My Place and Yours - Shoes (at my front door)

Shoes, glorious shoes.

Shoes jumbled in the wardrobe,

Shoes near the car.

Shoes by the door,

The ones loved best.

Thank you to Punky & Me for My Place and Yours.

If you'd like to check out more shoe collections drop by here.

Packed

Kimono folded, stacked and packed....


... ready to be made into the most fabulous shoes by Dames and Divas.

Where My Fabric Goes

I love seeing where the fabric I sells goes. It's always amazing to see everyone's different creative inspirations. Yesterday in Style Discovery there was an article about one of my wholesale customers, Lauren of Dames and Divas and the gorgeous shoes she creates. I'm so proud of her, they have turned out so well! You can read the article and see more pictures here.

Photo Credit : Style Discovery

I just love those last ballet flats! I think they would be a great edition to my wardrobe....

Rain Boots

It's a dreary, drizzly day here in my part of the world today. I don't mind a bit of rain every now and then but rain on a school day means that I can't ride my bike to school. That means that I have to leave earlier in the morning to walk there. Because I'm not riding my bike though, it means that I can wear a skirt.

Today's rain is the slanting kind. It doesn't matter how you hold your umbrella, you're going to get wet. Boots were in order, but the only boots I have are my heeled knee-highs, fabulous, but not great walking to school shoes. Once I get to school, they have to come off anyway, and go into my shoe locker, as I change into my "indoor shoes". My indoor shoes (in case you were wondering) are black Mary Jane crocs.

As I was skipping over puddles on the gravel path and clopping down the bitumen road on the way to school, I was dreaming of rain boots. A while ago, Jenny showed us her fabulous red wellies. I've been jealous ever since.

Here are some funky boots to brighten any rainy day.

1. Rain Boots, 2. Little Red Rain Boots, 3. New Boots and No Rain!, 4. Rain boots!, 5. rain boots, 6. Rain Boots take two (2), 7. Rain Boots, 8. Rain boots in a sunny day, 9. Fun in the Rain

Whether I'll be Loving Friday or not still remains to be seen.... recently my final class of the day has become my least favourite of the week. I'm not sure why, but suddenly the dynamics changed and now I can't get anything out of the students. Until a few weeks ago, this was one of my best, and most enthusiatic classes! Regardless, this is my little bit of BLOGTOBERFESTING for the day.

This is... the pair of shoes I would sleep in if I could...

Another great This is… theme this week, this time from Hip Hop and Banana Bread.

OK, so I'm back to something with kimono fabric... I couldn't resist! These are my favourite shoes. I certainly wouldn't wear them to bed because of their comfort, but just because I love them. They're handmade with leather and vintage kimono silk inserts. And of course, they're Mary Jane slides. I'm such a sucker for Mary Janes!

I love how the fabric is from the same piece, but doesn't exactly match. So very Japanese!

The label of the store they were made for. This is my favourite clothes store to wander and look at, though sadly, everything is way to small for this curvy western gal. The shoes feel a little too special though and the silk means that they're not really wet weather shoes. They also have a tendency to slide off a bit, so I only really wear them out to dinner, or somewhere that I won't be doing a lot of walking.

So instead, I usually end up wearing these! I had these custom made by the sweetest cobbler in Vietnam. I chose the design, chose the leather, had my feet measured and two days later, they were on my feet.

I have to excuse myself from the second part of this week's game. I didn't bring any old photos over with me and so can't do the This is... me pre-1985. All I have here is this is me pre-2002, and well, that's not terribly exciting...

This is..... me cheating!

So really, I'm not the best participant in the This is... meme. First I gatecrash weeks late, then I missed the next week (I don't have an inspiration board and didn't do my homework for it as I went away for the weekend) and now... I cheat!

So This is.... looking IN my front door. To be totally honest, looking out my front door is so depressing. All there is, is a carpark, a narrow street and the wall of the house across the road. Before coming to Japan, many people have this image of it being a beautiful country, which it really is in parts. The problem is, for the most parts, the suburbs are ugly. There is no sense of design and as space is at such a premium, houses and apartments are built on tiny blocks, so often have no room for a garden. Oh how I miss trees and the sound of birds in the morning.

My back door wouldn't work either - we don't have one. I was baffled for days of what to do, until yesterday when my friend came over and did this lovely ikebana arrangement. I thought I'd show inside my front door. Sorry Brooke! It's a great theme and I'm really looking forward to seeing everyone else's view.



The first thing you may notice is that the front door opens outwards. This is a space saving design, architects don't have to allow an area for a door swing (most of the other doors in our apartment are paper sliding doors). What the swinging-out design doesn't allow for is safety. I had a salesman come to my apartment once, late at night and I couldn't get him to leave. I couldn't shut the door on him as he was between it and myself.

I think most people know that in Japan, you have to take your shoes of before you enter. What is difficult for most people to understand is how clearly defined the shoes-on and shoes-off area really is. The light area you can see on the floor is for shoes on. From there you step out of your shoes onto the darker area which in our apartment, is ever so slightly raised. You would never step on that light area without your shoes. It's funny how ingrained it's become to me now. When I have visitors come and stay and they step on the dark area with their shoes on, or outside with them off I cringe. I yelled at my dad once because he tried to walk in to take his shoes of sitting on the sofa, but didn't have the heart to tell him off later for going outside in his socks to sit on the stairs to put them on again.

The brown cupboard you can see is our shoe cupboard. As shoes are not allowed indoors, this is where they must live. Mine is full of more space saving items to make room for them all to fit, but as you see, my collection is starting to overflow. The big clodhoppers are my husband's of course.

So next week, I promise to try to stick to the rules!