Spring Collection 2011

OK, all y'all deserve something a little more upbeat from me, and here it is!  Ken took me shopping at Vaughan Mills mall on Sunday, and it was super-awesome-fun.  I forgot all my troubles, had a chocolate-soy-ice-cream waffle cone, and got all stylish for spring.  There are a couple of purchases here that didn't get got on Sunday.  I will explain as we go along.  But first, I introduce you to the world's greatest ever socks, courtesy of the Holt Renfrew Last Call bargain outlet:

(In case you can't quite make out the image, that's a stag's head looming out of a profusion of wildflowers.  Also, feel free to be impressed by my ability to balance on one leg while taking a photograph with no flash in low light with almost no blur.  I balance good!)

These shoes were purchased on Queen St. West a couple of weeks ago at Get Outside.  They are supremely comfy and OMG the coolest.  I am also proud to add that they are made in Canada, are water repellant, and have some kind of high tech lining that claims it will keep my feet cool in the summer and warm in the winter.  Whatever, I'd wear them even if they weren't marvels of modern technology.

Impulse buy at Bass Pro in Vaughan Mills Mall.  Was: $140, marked down to $43.  Who could resist?

The truth is that I had just bought a new spring coat, although maybe it was more of a fall coat considering that it's black.  So I guess I still needed the other coat to be my spring coat, right?  Anyway, the black coat is more fantastic that you can even see from a still photo.  The "white" bits are sparkly silver tinsel.  It's all very fancy.

I found it at a little boutique in my neighbourhood.  The saleslady claimed that her sister owns the coat factory in Korea.  I'm not 100% sure that that's true, but it's a compelling story.

My first ever pair of leather gloves from Danier at Vaughan Mills Mall.  I could not resist the pretty shade of teal.  I'm into teal these days - you can see they almost match my shirt.  Unfortunately in this shot they look quite like the rubber gloves I use to wash dishes.   Really, they're quite classy and sophisticated.

Finally, a cautionary tale.  My favourite winter slippers crumbled just before the season was over.  Since I never know when I'm going to be down for the count with a fever and feeling chilly-toed, I went on a quest to find a replacement pair toot sweet.  Retail stores had very little slipper selection left, since everyone was thinking about spring even though it was still snowing.  So I took a leap of faith and went online to make my purchase.  I spent many hours choosing the exact right slipper of my dreams.  I located the one and only online store that could ship them to Canada.  When the box came I was all excited, until I ripped it open and found these:

As they say, close, but no cigar.  I had spent a fair amount of time deliberating between these two styles, the Juliet (on the left) and the Bootee (on the right).  What I had in fact ordered was the Bootee.  And now I have one of each.  At least I can say for sure that the Bootee was the right one for me: it's a little roomier in the toe, although otherwise they fit almost identically.

I e-mailed the vendor, shoebuy.com, to let them know what had happened, but no one replied to my e-mail.  This immediately raised warning flags in my mind.  If I were to box up the slippers and send them back over the border they might get caught at customs, or they might go back to the warehouse but there was no guarantee that I'd be issued a proper refund.  I mean, if they can't return a simple e-mail at the customer service desk, how can I trust them to get my shoe order right if I give them another chance?  They might send me another order entirely next time: men's size 12 extra-wide white running shoes or something.

I assessed the situation.  I have one right shoe and one left shoe, both in Ladies size 8 which fit just fine.  The Juliet slipper is a little tight in the toe, but it's sheepskin - it'll stretch.  They look fairly similar and if I walk around in them without looking down I can barely tell that they're not a matched set.  Then, one chilly evening, I wore them while watching TV, and OMG my feet were SO WARM AND COZY AND COMFY!!!1!  That clinched it.  I am keeping them.  Some people wear mismatched socks.  I can wear mismatched slippers.  P.S. Don't buy from shoebuy.com because they'll get your order wrong and not care.  

If anyone out there has the matching opposite pair of slippers, (someone must have gotten them by now), please let me know in the comments and we'll arrange an exchange.