If the shoe fits...

...then you acquit. Of all charges of spendthriftiness.

Sorry, being around trial lawyers all day, I've adopted their sense of humor. I absolute love my new job. We work hard, but we play hard as well. The dress code turns out to be a lot more relaxed than I thought, but it's still important to have a couple of good pairs of pumps, particularly for court days.

Remember the pair of shoes with worn out heel caps that I was going to throw away? My good friend has counseled me wisely and changed my mind. Other than the heel caps, they are in great condition, and perfectly-fitting shoes are really hard to find--I went both high and low for a loooong time and was never able to find a worthy replacement for them, which proves the point. So, I'm gonna keep them until I have the time and more money to get the caps replaced.

In the meantime, I still needed shoes that won't make me sound like a horse clomping down the pavement. I went to the Citadel outlet mall in the city of Commerce. It's not as great as the outlet malls in the desert regions, but it's easy to get to without having to sweat it out. I walked all through the various shoe stores and didn't find anything that looked like my old pair and priced like it. In the end, I had to settle for what I found in Nine West. This was a good settlement:

These are a bit expensive in my book--$40--but they are incredibly comfortable (and not as shiny as in the picture). The leather upper moulded to my feet really well, and the peeptoe style is so cute and retro.

At the time, they had a buy one get one promotion, so I ended up getting these for $10:

I'm not sure what happened, but either my foot got bigger overnight or I didn't have the luxury of an extended try-on at the store. They fit fine when I was there, but they were particularly tight at the toes when I wore them the next day. They are incredibly cute and will probably do quite well once I've broken them in, but even if I fail, $10 is an acceptable loss.

At least now I'm well-stocked in the career shoe department.

What a $12 haircut looks like

You all know that I'm cheap, and you also know I like to be stylish. It may seem that the two are mutually exclusive, but they don't have to be.

People are often shocked that I think a $40 haircut is too expensive. What do you pay? They'd ask. It used to be $10, then price went up, or the stylist isn't available and I have to go to another. Still, most of the time I spend no more than $15-30.

Being broke and busy with studying meant haircuts had to wait, but since I start my new job on Monday, I decided to get a nice cut before my schedule is booked again. My stylist usually knows my hair well, which is why I kept going back, but this time the results leave me with a love-hate relationship with my haircut. She was out of the country for quite a few months, so it appears that she forgot my preferences. I ended up getting choppy bangs that I didn't have before, and my hair is shorter than I normally would like. I left the salon unhappy, but over time, it doesn't seem as bad.

This is what a $12 (plus tip) haircut looks like. My mom cautioned me against going to those $5 places, but a $12 place does a pretty good job, even when it's an "off" day:



Hopefully this isn't too trendy for the office. At any rate, I have a bit of time to let it grow up before I have to look, well, lawyerly.

Hair notwithstanding, today ended on a good note. I finally scored 2 pairs of comfortable shoes. They're a bit more than I'd usually shell out for, but after spending days searching for the right shoes, they're great ones to "settle" for. More on that next time.

Back to Work Shopping

It's hard to believe, but I'm re-entering the work force for good. No more schooling for me. I'm done. Reality is setting in.

A couple of days ago, I was in a bit of a panic. I realized that I had nothing to wear for work. When other people say they have nothing, they often mean they have nothing they liked. I was pretty serious when I said I had nothing--sure, I had a few business-casual things, and I have quite a few suits, but the firms I worked at were more on the casual side of the dress code. I need enough items that would last me for at least a week. To make matters worst, my favorite pair of kitten heel black pumps from Target--the pair that served me faithfully for 3 years--have finally been worn to the hilt. It is simply not worth paying a cobbler to have the heel caps replaced.

So I spent Labor Day weekend wandering throughout the mall in search of dress shirts. And wouldn't you know it, the stores with shirts that fit me the best (Gap and Express) were also the most expensive. There was no way I was going to plunk down $45 for a single shirt. No luck with shoes either. I felt like Goldilocks--the heels were either too high, too flat, or too uncomfortable. Nothing was just right.

I'm still in search of the perfect replacement shoes, but my search for dress shirts is more or less over. Target was the perfect place to stock up. I bought a dark blue dress shirt with a satiny sheen for (gasp!) full price! Of $18, as opposed to twice as much. I found a 3/4 sleeve white dress shirt for a little over $8 on the clearance rack. Finally, I picked up a simple black top for a few bucks; I can wear it for work or casual times, which is great.

Tomorrow I need to go get a cheap (but good) haircut.

Happily Scrappy

I decided to spend the last days of "freedom" doing lots of crafting, celebrating my newfound employment with friends, and doing more work to spruce up the pictures in my store. Remember how I got some photo props from the Big Lots cookware department? Well, I'm still working on perfecting the technique of taking pics off a stainless steel surface. Not quite there yet, but it does produce a cool futuristic look:

The cooling rack has actually been indispensible. I use it to prop up the cookie sheet, and I'd hook earrings on the overhanging part of the cooling rack. So much for using the cooling rack for its intended purpose. Oh well...not like I'm going to be baking cookies any time soon. It's so incredibly hot these days!

Still, the cookie sheet alone is not going to be enough to bridge the gap between the black leather and stark white backgrounds. I wanted a neutral-colored surface like wood. I have a mahogany-colored bench (courtesy of Target), but the surface is too narrow for jewelry photography. Oddly enough, Ikea solved my problem, and not in the way you'd expect.

When I went to Ikea about a month ago, the end of season clearance was on. Lots of things were marked down to a ridiculously low price. I hit the cookware section, hoping to find some interesting (and cheap) thingamabob to serve as a photography surface. Didn't find anything. In fact, I didn't find anything of interest until I was about to leave. I noticed some colorful plastic plant pots for sale for 25 cents each, and they were of a pretty good size. Once I saw them, I thought they'd be good storage receptacles for knicknacks, so I got 3 of them (2 blue and one green). Recently I started using them in a different way than I've earmarked--they work very well as small waste buckets. I'd use one to catch snippets of wire as I'm making jewelry.

Then, as usual, my last stop was the as-is department. They sell the craziest things sometimes, ranging from floor boards to sofa covers to drawer fronts. I wasn't surprised that drawer fronts and sofa covers weren't flying off the shelves; after all, unless you have the exact same model of the sofa or storage units AND you were in need of a cover or a drawer front (what are the odds of that?), they're practically useless.

Or are they?

The big hunk of a drawer front was exactly what I needed--it was small enough that I can carry it around and big enough for me to put large necklaces on. I could even use the piece of wood as a work surface if I wanted to. The best part is that I was only out $2.

It really is the perfect surface to bridge the gap between black and white. The color is neutral, and the surface reflects light the way my black portfolio pictures do--just the cohesion I needed.

Imagination saves us money. Who would have thunk that? It does pay to be a dreamer sometimes.