If these boots were made for talkin'...

I'd be in trouble.

I am a lover of shoes. A connoisseur if you will. My mother calls me a "shoe hoe" (that's done wonders for my reputation).  I have an obscene number of footwear in my closet. So obscene that Mr. Converse has been relegated to storing his Converse elsewhere.

But they are all a part of me. They have supported me, taken me places near and far, been a part of some of the most important moments in my life and helped me create what I hope are lasting footprints.

Ok, I'm done with the philosophical mumbo jumbo.

So in honor of shoes everywhere, all shapes, sizes, colors and styles, I thought I would share a few of my favorite pairs that have adorned my tootsies over the years.

My throwback to the 60's stilettos. Groovy and far out. 

Disco fever baby.

Over 13 years old but they're still kickin' (pun intended). I wore these shoes to my 9th grade date dance. But I still wear them to this day. A good pair of black heels never goes out of style, I say.  

Confucius say: every gal should own a pair of red heels.

My "I do" shoes. 

So, I'll leave you with this wise quote from the one and only Mr. Manolo Blahnik, “You put high heels on and you change.” Well said sir.

 

Kick-ass gals...

Did you know that March is Women's History Month? 

A month to celebrate all of the kick-ass gals who came before us, who broke down barriers, overcame obstacles, paved roads, blazed trails, well you get the picture.

So to honor these rad gals, I thought I would bring to your attention a few that empower me to get out there and kick some ass as well.

In a totally random, no particular order kind of way:

Jane Austen

This bad-ass broad was way ahead of her time. In the 19th century, books were written by men and there certainly were no strong-willed, sassy gals in those pages. But Ms. Austen said "hell to the no!" (or probably something more like "Good sir, hath helleth to the noeth") and did her own thing creating some of the most memorable female characters of all time. I mean how can you not love Elizabeth Bennet for unflinchingly telling Mr. Darcy to stick it where the sun don't shine. Priceless, my friends, priceless.

Marie Curie

I know you're all like, "Shoe Gal, really? Marie whosa whatsa?" Well hear me out. Picture it: 4th grade, biography day. Every other girl chooses Betsy Ross and I wasn't about to be one of 15 little gals walking around with a bonnet on their head and toting around an American flag all day. So I chose Madam Curie and to this day, a couple decades later, I still remember her as a kick-ass gal and here's why. She was the first woman to ever receive a Nobel prize and the first person to receive two Nobel prizes. She discovered two elements. Not one, but two. Under her direction, the world's first studies were conducted into the treatment of cancers. She was voted the "Most inspirational woman in science" in a 2009 poll. Pretty kick-ass if you ask me.

Julia Child

I may be a little biased here as I just watched Julie and Julia a couple of weeks ago. But ever since the credits rolled, Julia Child's kick-ass culinary skills have made me want to whip up Boeuf Bourguignon and Coq au Vin all while yelling "Bon appétit!" every couple of minutes (yeah, that wouldn't get annoying). She brought French cooking to the American masses and made it an art form. She has some pretty memorable quotes that I think sums up why she is a kick-ass gal: 

"I think every woman should have a blowtorch."

"Always remember: If you're alone in the kitchen and you drop the lamb, you can always just pick it up. Who's going to know?"

"The only real stumbling block is fear of failure. In cooking you've got to have a 'What the hell?' attitude."

Well said, Julia, well said. 

Betty White

Even though this Golden Girl is still alive and kicking ass and takin' names, she certainly gets a high-five from me. Not only can I turn on the TV in the middle of the night when Mr. Converse is next to me sawing logs to hang with her, Dorthy, Sophia and Blanche and laugh my tuccus off, but this 88 years young gal's career is better than ever. For Pete's sake (and I don't even know Pete) she's hosting SNL in a couple of months! So this month I'm gonna thank her for being a friend.

I know there are about a bajillion more kick-ass gals out there who deserve a shout-out and I tip my heels to them all. Let me know which kick-ass gals float your boat.

Wishing you all the shoes in the world,

Shoe Gal

When Fievel went West...

Well, to the West Village anyway.

He hopped on at 14th street, much to the surprise (and my delight, girly screams from some of the men folk) of the other passengers and proceeded to try to find a seat. But no one would offer one up to him. Go figure!

He scurried throughout the car as we all got started a frenzied rendition of the "wave" with our legs.

Girly screams ensued.

Just as he hopped on, he hopped off at West 4th Street.

Where he was going is anyone's guess....Chuck E. Cheese perhaps?

Ok, I'll stop while I'm (barely) ahead.

My adventure across the bridge...

I am a big city livin' gal in case you didn't know and today I did something for the first time. Something I haven't done in the five plus years I have inhabited my great metropolis.

I crossed the bridge.

I know most of you are thinking, "Shoe Gal, big stinkin' deal, I cross bridges all the time!"

True, but in the city I live in, we tend to stick to our borough and don't venture too often across the many bridges that connect the city to the other world. What can I say, we're borough snobs.

But I was feeling adventurous today so I told Mr. Converse to strap on, well, his converse and hightail it with me over the bridge to explore.

And we did.

We started out having a lovely brunch at a restaurant on the water.

 

Check out the nifty fifty placemat

The food was yumlicious.

I had the most light and fluffy banana walnut pancakes my mouth ever had the pleasure of meeting. I could have taken a nap on them.

 

Now all together, "hmmmmmmm"

Mr. Converse had his usual, Eggs Benedict. I caught him practically licking the plate afterwards though. I can't take him anywhere!

Delish

After brunch, we headed out to look at the water and wave to our city across the pond before continuing our across the bridge adventure. 

 

We then decided to throw caution to the wind and just explore not paying attention to what direction we were headed in. We came across the most scrumptious candy store.  My head was telling me to go in, my hips not so much. Needless to say,  my head won. I mean, come on, there was chocolate involved and a gal knows never to say no to chocolate, right? 

 

 The ceiling was decorated in huge lollipops a la Willy Wonka's Factory

There was a huge dog made out of candy. I may have seriously considered taking a nibble at which point I am sure I would have been asked to never frequent this particular store of candy again. Thankfully, I got distracted thinking how many sour peach rings I could fit in my mouth before Mr. Converse left me across the bridge forever. I would say at least 20. I have a large yapper.

And then there was this.

Doesn't that just make you all tingly inside? No? Just me I guess.

Love and Shoes,

Shoe Gal

May I introduce you to...

My better half. The yin to my yang. My killer of spiders. My chocolate acquirer. My personal comedian.

Ok, enough with the mushy stuff.

Meet my hubby,  Mr. Converse. Why you ask? Well like his other half, Shoe Gal, Mr. Converse enjoys a good shoe, well... a good pair of Converse. But who doesn't?

 Mr. Converse sportin' his American Flag Converse shoes

Some fun tidbits about Mr. Converse...

He regularly gets recognized on the street - for who, we haven't figured out yet. But people seem to think he is that actor in that thing they can't remember the name of. But he isn't. He hasn't acted a day in his life. In fact, Adrien Grenier and Chloe Sevigny swear they know him. But they don't. He just has one of those faces.

He is an exceptionally talented artist - a filmmaker by trade, he puts pen, pencil, paintbrush to paper and creates awesomeness. He is incredibly modest, so I have to toot his horn for him. I'll share some of his work soon,  I promise.

I know he'll make a lot of guest appearances in High Heel Hijinks in the future so I figured proper introductions were in order.

Mr. Converse meet blog world. Blog world, meet Mr. Converse. 

Hope you had a shoetastic weekend!

Shoe Gal