skribbies

My little Addy is definitely starting to develop her own sense of style. It isn't always easy on the eye but  she loves her outfits and has fun with them.

A new product I was sent to review, skribbies, was absolutely perfect for her.

Skribbies are fashionable High-Top trainers for children available in three colour combinations. I wanted the Neon Black but Addy was insistent that she'd be the one wearing them and she wanted Pink. Pink won!

She was absolutely thrilled with the trainers... and the pens and stickers included in the box. What she had yet to realise was that the pens and the stickers were for creating a unique, customised look for the trainers.  She didn't question the fact that she was allowed (encouraged) to draw on her shoes. She happily got on with it.

The upper is a lovely smooth, shiny material - perfect for drawing on. The box also contained a skribbie wrist band for wiping the shoes clean ready to be drawn on again. Addy loved the wristband and even wanted to wear it to bed! The surface wiped clean easily - so easily that I did accidentally erase a couple of designs whilst trying to help Addy get the shoes on.

Addy was definitely absorbed in the task of decorating her new High-Tops and was very proud of her finished product. More important to me as a parent was how well they functioned as footwear. We 'road' tested them in the garden and they certainly seemed to give her plenty of spring in her step.

Addy loved her trainers and I was very impressed with them. However, it does mean that I need to keep a close eye on her little brother to ensure that he doesn't start thinking it is OK to draw on all his shoes too!

https://skribbies.com/

Goodbye Old Wellies, Hello V Festival

This weekend is the V Festival weekend. If the weather forecast is to be trusted it is going to be a WET one, which means - welly time!

These are my wellies.

They were part of the Tickled Pink range in Asda many years ago, raising money for Breast Cancer Charities. I fell totally in love with them. They were actually pinker then but time, muddy festivals, gardening and creosoting fences have all taken their toll. I would overlook the fading and the brown splodges but I could not ignore the big split that appeared, new for 2013.

Reluctantly, I had to accept it was the right moment to replace them.

I could not find a design to rival my beautiful 'black lace over girly pink' so I opted for shiny black wellies.

I found a pair of shorts in a local charity shop to wear with my new wellies which means I am ready for my weekend of live music and the horrifically churned up grounds of Weston Park.

I don't suppose the shiny blackness will last for long!

Holiday Inn, Heels and Hangover

My Friend Rose got married this weekend. There is no mascara waterproof enough to cope with the tears I shed as I watched  Rose take to the dance floor for the first dance with her new husband.

Rose has not had an easy life - I honestly don't think I could have coped with half of what she has been through - yet here she was, swaying blissfully, completely content, brimming with love for a man who clearly felt exactly the same way too.

This perfect moment (aptly played out to Kelly Clarkson singing A Moment Like This) was touchingly beautiful and one I think I will remember for ever.

You've got to love happy endings!

The wedding took place at The Holiday Inn Swindon. I wore impossibly High Heels. I drank enough to have suffered a minor Hangover. Although this was never meant to count as our H date, it was a wonderful weekend and thanks to my fantastic daughter, Charis, volunteering to turn in early and stay with the sleeping little ones in the Hotel room, I got to spend a lot of time dancing with my Husband. I think it qualifies.

Other Wedding Weekend Highlights included:

• My girls singing for the entrance of the bride

• Getting through my 'Father of the Bride' speech without mishap.
• Enjoying my girls performing a band set for the evening entertainment.
• Seeing Taylor looking so grown up and partying. For the first time, I could really imagine her as a University student.

• Spending time with all my grown up daughters.

• Sleeping Babies

• I've mentioned them once, but I love them enough to mention them again - my shoes!

A Good Week for Shoes

It's been a good week for shoes.

Firstly, my husband decided to give me a gift on his birthday. He bought me a gorgeously impractical pair of shiny black heels that I enjoyed using in a photograph to illustrate a different (and understated) side path on my blogging journey.

I will enjoy wearing them too - and my husband assures me that he will enjoy seeing me wearing them which was his justification for buying them for me. Wins all round!

Secondly, my baby boy has properly made the transition to toddler. It has been a slow transition but he is now confident enough to walk unaided outside and consequently desperately needed shoes. I thought it would be a major headache trying to find shoes that would comfortably fit his chubby little feet and had resigned myself to paying upwards of £40 in the process. As it turned out, I found a gorgeous soft pair of lace-ups in Tesco that fit perfectly and didn't break the bank at all. 

He loves it that "putting on his shoes" is now part of the morning routine and he sits on the bottom stair waving his feet at me waiting for his turn. 

He very proudly held his big sister's hand as they walked into her nursery together on his first day of being a "big boy". It made me smile to see them and it was so much easier for me not having to carry him. 

So it's hello to these already scuffed and scruffy first grown up shoes...

...and goodbye to this:

The Gallery - Week 73 - Shoes

I have written several blogposts about shoes: my love of shoes, winning shoes, tiny shoes, favourite shoes, back to school shoes ...

In Show us your Shoes I included photographs of my faithful, battered DMs, my totally impractical but mouthwateringly gorgeous Italian leather killer heels, my Zombie wedding shoes that walked down the aisle and the trainers that helped me count down the kilometeres in my Race for Life.

So what to feature for this week's Gallery prompt Shoes?

After much deliberation, my contribution, synonymous with summer, is Festival Footwear (taken at V Music Festival, Weston Park):

Show us your Shoes

I can't say my sister never does anything for me - she tagged me in a meme that gave me the excuse to think about shoes.

I love shoes and having a very tall husband means I have no excuse not to wear very high heels.

If I'm honest, you are far more likely to see me wearing my old and battered Doc Martens (they were silver once) than any other sort of footwear.

They may not be pretty any more but in terms of comfort and practicality they are unbeatable.

But I don't want to be practical all the time.

These Italian leather, stupidly high heels were a gift from my husband shortly after we got together. They are not the best fit and you certainly couldn't run for a bus in them but it was these that opened my eyes to the world of girl shoes.

No post on shoes would be complete without the shoes I wore on my wedding day. If your wedding day isn't a reason to buy an insanely gorgeous pair of shoes then I don't know what is. I'm sure many of my guests thought they fell more into the category of insane than beautiful but I will love these shoes and the very happy memories tied up in them, forever.

The latest pair of shoes to join my ever growing footwear family were these trainers.

With their gel cushioned soles, I am hoping they will help me fly round the 5K course when I run the Race for Life next month.

I am tagging my daughters Liberty and Ivy who share my love of shoes but thankfully NOT my shoesize!

Shoes

In common with many women, I love shoes.

My first husband was just about the same height as me so I never wore heels because it felt wrong for me to be taller than him. I did begin my love affair with Doc Marten's during this marriage. I love how comfortable they are and how oddly feminine they can be.

My husband now is 6'5'' which means a whole world of gorgeous shoes has opened up to me. He likes me to be closer to his height and bought me the most gorgeous pair of Italian leather killer heels near the start of our relationship. I confess I have never worn them outside of the house - not really the sort of thing to totter around Morrisons in for my weekly grocery shop (!) - but just owning them has enriched my life in a very out of character girlie sort of way.

My collection of heels grows every time I see a sale in a shoe shop. I really have more impractical footwear than I know what to do with.

I used my wedding as an excuse to buy a pair of shoes to rival my much loved original killer heels. As soon as I saw the Iron Fist Zombie Stompers I knew that I had to walk down the aisle in them.

Today, I am taking part in a competition to win shoes! To enter, you had to take a look at the Schuh website and choose the shoes you would like to win. Then you had to post a link to your chosen shoes on the Schuh Facebook page along with an explanation as to why you deserve them. Winners are chosen every hour from 8am to 8pm with the option to submit a different entry for each hour. Now I have no idea whether the winners are selected randomly or if each entry is considered on merit but I have thoroughly enjoyed a) selecting shoes I would love to win and b) creating photo and slogan entries that I hope will stand out.

Looking at the Schuh website was a dangerous game - so many beautiful shoes. I wouldn't be at all surprised if at least one pair found its way onto my Christmas list (which I imagine is the competition promoters intention!).

Setting up the photos to attach to my entries was fun - it is surprisingly challenging to face paint your own feet and then find the right angle to capture your image with legs in the way! - and as I think I have already stressed, as long as the taking part is fun, the winning is merely a bonus. But what a bonus it would be to have a shiny new pair of Doc Martens...

I've had my eye on a new pair of Doc Martens!

Tired feet deserve a treat