Bargain booty!

This weekend, some good stuff happened. It was my lovely pal Ali's birthday party. That was good. The next day, I got my arse out of bed and went out on my bike and surprised myself mightily by cycling about 23 miles to North Berwick! I'm doing a 52ish mile sponsored ride in September so I need to get my training on. Here are my handle bars arriving there. It was such a gorgeous day for being out and about!

The next good thing that happened was that I got an IMMENSE bargain. Major. These boots from Urban Outfitters:

S'cuse the fuzzy iPhone photos. As it's been a wee while since I posted I was keen to get these babies up pronto! Observe le £215 price tag:

I picked them up, tried them (teeny bit big but, being boots, they stay on anyway and I can bulk 'em out with socks) and figured 40 quid down from £215 wasn't bad. Especially given that they are the softest, loveliest leather, leather lined and leather soled - pure posh, ken? But, I got to the cash desk and...

...they were only 20 quid! Down from £215. That's nearly 91% off! I walked out of the shop stunned (after buying them obvs). And I know you might not believe it given the size of my shoe wardrobe but I don't actually have a pair of black leather boots! Talk about a gap in the market! Or my shoe wardrobe - whatever.

Lovely leather soles

And, as black boots go, they're pretty frickin' perfect. They're high enough to be awesome but with a thick enough platform to be comfy. They have definite fierce 80s style connotations - have you clocked that massive sturdy elasticated gusset (ps - if you aren't tittering at 'gusset' just now, we can't be friends. Sorry.)? - and will be awesome with big jumper dresses and tights/leggings when it's cold but not icy. They have a chunk-a-mondo heel and the toe is a pointy-but-not-too-pointy almond shape. I loves them.

They're by a brand called either d.co or dico Copenhagen (depending what bit of their website you believe.). Ker-ching!

Going for the quadruple!

Do you ever have that thing where you buy a new pair of shoes and you wear them ALL the time? I pretty much don't - almost never. I'm such a shoe hoarder/aficionado that I'm always wearing different ones. Not in a 'ooh, look at all my shoes' kinda way, I just change my mind as to what I'm in the mood for day to day and it seems wasteful not to flex the collexion. Plus, if I'm gonna be on my feet a lot, I'll wear flats but if I have a desk bound day, I'll bung on some mental heels I can barely walk in. Don't get me wrong, I'm a bad shoe mother and I do have my favourites but on the whole, it's a pretty mixed bag for me.

However, last week I got the Bronx Herald Brogue boot from schuh. Shoes # 39. And, man, I can't take them off my feet! Four days in a row I've had them on now. It's partly because I've been driving this week, partly cos I've had a day out of the office (whee! Fun trips!) and partly because I love them! Here they are with some slightly jester-esque socks.

I know they don't necessarily look much but four days in and I haven't had a sore foot and there ain't been a blister in sight, even after nipping down to London and spending the whole day on foot, punctuated by trains (7 of them), planes (2) and automobiles (4). They come with a slightly battered 'faux vintage' look (and a wee disclaimer for the anal explaining that they are supposed to look battered), the leather is deliciously soft and the brogue detailing is classically gorgeous in a mannish way.

boots: Bronx @ schuh, socks: Urban Outfitter

Here's what I wore them with day 1:

coat: eBay, scarf: Accessorize, dress 'n' leggings: Uniqlo

Evidently something on the ceiling's caught my eye.

Then here's me showing those beatches on Top Model how you do a jumping shot. Ahem. I looked so freakin' mental good, I was forced to chop the top half of my head out of the picture so as not to alarm evoke jealously in people. Look at the movement in the cardi though. Lovely!

shirt: H&M, cardi: Topshop

Seriously, my face is so scrunched up you couldn't see my eyes in this pic even if I hadn't chopped my head off. Anyway, what you can't see in the pictures is the very cute necklace I'm wearing that I got for my birthday from my kind friend Lynsey. It's a piece of NYC inspired kitchness from Accessorize. You can get it here, if you so wish.

Now I don't have shots of days 2 and 3 (day 3 I wore the boots with this dress, should you care to imagine the ensemble) but here's day 4 (today) of boot-wearing-gate.

dress: H&M, scarf: Primark

Can you tell I was still shattered from London (I was down there for a work meeting then the schuh press day for s/s '11. It looked fantastic and the girls did an amazing job! And that's not just me being biased on account of knowing them - they truly did a fantastic job) today and flung something on, scraping my hair back and foregoing make up? I promise to try harder tomorrow!

And in aid of looking fresher and more daisy like tomorrow, I'm off for a nice hot bath. Ahhhh...

Legs 11 - Call of the Wild

Sounds a bit like the title of some kind of cheesy porno. Tee, hee! (Actually that might not be a bad idea...)

Shoes #11 in the Great Shoe Wearing Challenge (ha, as if it's a challenge to have to wear shoes every day - who do I think I am?) are Clarks Originals from schuh. I first saw these shoes a few months back and from that moment until they arrived in store I coveted the ass off them. And then they were mine!!

I've always liked Clarks Originals (more so on yummy indie boys) but never really though they were 'me'. Someone at Clarks must've realised this and thought, 'what can we do to reel her in?' (because it's the sole aim of every company to have me like their stuff), at which point a creative genius said 'let's make a hairy leopard print desert boot'. And, thus I was won.

Here they are in all their hairy glory (I am so not averse to a pair of hairy shoes. Did you see the Louboutins with the 'tail'? I think they were maybe for Christopher Kane. Amazing. I'm also ok with a bald shoe as it goes)


As you may (if you've read this recently) or may not know, I've had a filthy, dirty, stinking cold of late and, as a result, I'm dressing for snuggly comfort, rather than for trying to look like a goddess of any sort. I'm also hiding my snot ridden, rudolph nosed face, not because I think I'm fabulous and you don't deserve to see my face but because I think I think you're fabulous and shouldn't be subjected to it. Therefore, the boot outfit runs as follows:

Awesome hairy leopard print boots: Clarks Originals at schuh, £79.99
T-dress: Uniqlo
Black leggings: oh, who the hell knows?
Gold Lurex cardi (which we all know I favour): either Topshop or Primark (I have one from each and I'm not sure which it is.)
Gold Lurex socks (oh yes you better believe it!): Can't remember actually - soz...
Beautiful gold mirrored horeshoe necklace: Lady Luck Rules ok

Final Thought: Will there be a bitchy uncomfortable vibe between Chezza and all the lady x-factor judges?

I'm in loooooooooooove!

Word up people. Sorry for the absence - I've been off sunning it in Croatia. And let me tell you this: if I'd realised early in the holiday how many shocking Euro mullets and badly worded pigeon English slogan t-shirts I was going to see, I'd have taken pics and posted about that. Phenomenal. Still, it's nicer to be nice and not laugh about these things, isn't it? Oh, but it's funner (yes that's a word. Why? Because I say so and this is my blog) to laugh...

Anyway, today I am in love. All consuming, obsessive, passionate love. I promise this isn't going to become a blog of pictures of stuff from shops and images from random websites but this one I have to share with the world. I am in love with Wilma. She's a gorgeous and fabulous, towering, hairy, leopard print platform ankle bootie by Aussie brand SENSO. She's a serious wow! I've debated the pros and cons of the boots and the only con thus far is the fact that I don't have £100+ to spend on them. Argh! Time to get saving methinks!