Deer hooves.

Some of my dearest friends, Holt and Melissa were married this weekend in a beautiful waterfront ceromony. I LOVED that Melissa let us bridesmaids pick our dresses (well, at first I had a panic attack about choosing the "right" color of navy, but then I loved it). I found a sassy little navy lace number from Urban Outfitters (here) & nude heels from Payless (here). Per usual, the day of the wedding, my ankles started to tremble with fear of having to wear insanely uncomfortable shoes all night. I really didn't want to end up barefoot at a fancy pants country club.

 

I get that NO heels are really, truly comfortable. I get that every girl bitches about a night out in pumps. But still, I plead my case. I compare my ankles and feet to delicate baby deer hooves, that under pressure (or the awkward position of being stuffed into a 5 inch heel) collapse. I literally have a 2 hour window of being able to stand without crying.

 

I chock this up to two things.

 

1. I was a tomboy and I only wore Vans and flip flops growing up, therefore I was never accustomed to wearing heels 

 

2. Aquarians have weak ankles.

 

I have found a very few loop holes to extend my 2 hour heel-wearing bubble. Wedges seem to provide approximately 1-2 additional hours of toleration.  But the night still ends barefoot and broken toed. I could wear flats, but my legs are unporpotionately short. And kitten heels are the MOST terrible things I have every seen (stop it Suri Cruise).

 

I had my doubts about these shoes from Payless. But much to my surprise - I lasted the ENTIRE EVENING....we are talking hours of pictures, dancing, drinking and eating. I am flabbergasted.

 

Cheers to Payless for providing me with my FIRST pair of truly bareable pumps. And for $20 bucks. Here's a few additional pictures of me looking exeptionally ;) cute AND comfortable in heels at the wedding photobooth!

 



Currently dabbling and ...

Watching: Can I admit that I'm watching The Voice?? No? Ok. I'm also catching up on my Dexter. Knife stabs to the saran wrapped chest never get old.


Reading: Spirit Junkie by Gabrielle Bernstein I've been searching for some inner peace lately and this book promises to help you restore it. Ms. Bernstein does try a little bit too hard to be that "cool girl" because it's littered with "young" words like "totally" "awesome" and  "spiritual rockstar" - but overall a good, inspirational read so far.

Ms. Bernstein mediates.

Doing: Been busy shooting our Fall Collection for Shop Goldie. We have also been beefing up the SG:blog. We have also been working on a big event for the Spring and I'll be excited to share this awesome event with you guys as it gets closer!


Fall Shop Goldie photo shoot

Eating: Candy. Ugh. It's Halloween season and as I type this I am starting at a pumpkin shaped bowl of sweets. I told myself that having Invisalign in would prevent me from eating so much candy. Wrong. I eat just as much. I'm just brushing my teeth more.


Listening: The Head and the Heart -self titled album. It is soooo good. Perfect Fall music. Kicking myself for missing them at Lollapalooza this year...errrrr...

The Head and the Heart Album.

the two bestest fur babies.

Something you should know about me. For a long, long time I wasn't "a dog person". This could be shocking to those who know me now.

But, other people's dogs grossed me out. To be honest I thought they were smelly, slobbery and dirty.

Then something happened. His name was Grommit. I "rescued" him from a man on Craigslist. The first picture he sent me was of Grommit on a "horse trail".. or what appeared to be a nasty a** backyard littered with trash. I picked him up in front of Best Buy (classy) and brought him back to work with me (awesome boss!!) and bathed him in the bathroom sink.

Fast forward 4 years and we are madly in love. Ok, I'm a super obsessed, oohhing and awing dog lady. What's that saying?? ... "Some people have kids and some people have dogs?" Well, the latter is me.

Luckily I've found a pack of dog loving peeps I can blab to about the joys of being a fur mom. My sister, mother of 2 darling chi mixes. My friends Dina and Jeff, who have life sized portraits of their dogs in their foyer. And my mum, who affectionately named her two dogs after her favorite NASCAR driver and her favorite musician....(who doesn't love The Boss??). Bonus points for my mum for calling my dogs "grandoggies". :)


Most recently I've adopted the Diablo. She is a japanimation character of a chihuahua. She howls like nothing I've every heard and has a wily way of wrapping my underwear around her head.

I love my little fur babes and therefore I dedicate this post to them.

Beatrix (Bimbi) Diablo Young

Capt. Grom Sparrow Young

one foot in front of the other.

I just ordered Zen and the Art of Running: The Path to Making Peace with Your Pace by Larry Shapiro. As one of my latest dabblings, I've taken up running. I have always hated hated hated running. But on the flip-side  it's always really annoyed me that I don't enjoy it (enter my competitive spirit). I am jealous of those runners I see Saturday mornings and jealous of my Facebook runner friends who spend their weekends joyfully running marathons. I just don't get it.

So I hired a personal running coach. His website promises to make me enjoy running and even though I work in sales...I am a sucker for a good website and smart sales pitch.

I met Mr. NZ at 6:30am 2 Wednesdays ago. He is a Kiwi (from the land of the Hobbit aka New Zealand - hence the name i've given him Mr. NZ), so immediately I think he's awesome. Now imaging running and wanting to stop..for me it's usually 2 minutes in. But he and his charming accent keeps telling me that I'm doing great and just a little bit farther. And I believe him and run 1 mile. Woot woot.

In typical Leah fashion, I spent the next couple weeks reading running books, researching running techniques and the barefoot running theory and checking out fancy running shoes. Oh and running...and then I sprained my ankle.

I was running, I was falling, I was crying and then it started to pour. Awesome.

So .. now all i can do is tip tap type about running until I heal. I'm curious to see if Mr. NZ can really motivate me to enjoy running. Mind over matter. Mind over matter. 

i belong to the hurricane.

i live in a hurricane state. Literally and figuratively. My home is North Florida aka land of the 'canes & my headspace is a hurricane...or small tornado...hurricano. This is an outlet to help me be still. Settle the hurricano. My mind is a million miles per hour. My intentions good. My concentration, not-so-good.

First things first. I like to dabble. I call myself a :master dabbler. I've tried a LOT once....

I've been a knitter, a baker, a yogi, a traveler, a lacrosse player, a surfer, a seamstress, a graphic designer, a wanna-be dancer (most would agree, not my proudest moment), a gymnast, a needle felter (google it), a dieter, a painter, a crafter (you name it - i did it), a skateboarder, spanish speaker, an entrepreneur and now a blogger.

I don't know what to expect of this latest venture. I'm going to think of it as a work in progress. I look forward to dabbling with you - oh mighty blogosphere.

xo leah forever young