Rainy days make me pensive + Shoes #4

Today I am saying goodbye to the first pair of shoes due to the Shoe Challenge.  The problem is, although it's raining like anything today (I approve, because Rain defeats Snow), these boots are just too small.

There's really no point torturing your feet over a pair of souped-up Wellington boots, is there?  I only got them because they were cheap and reminded me of these Ruche boots.

Oh well, there's a Shoeper lesson: do not buy shoes that are too small, even if they are cheap.  I did not wear these boots once, and it was the Shoe Challenge that forced me to put them on and realize once and for all that they had to go.  Thanks, Shoeperwoman!

Instead I'm wearing the same shoe-boots as yesterday, with the same jeans, I know.  Well I put the jeans in the freezer overnight, that makes it okay, right?  And I really like how the beige looks with the faded blue of the jeans.  I was wearing these jeans the day I bought the shoes and that definitely influenced my purchasing decision.  Also the "OMG half price and only one pair left in my size!" factor.  Shhhh ;)  Today I'm counting them as Shoe Challenge #4.

See the ditch in the back of the photo?  That's flooded due to the rain/melted snow combination.  But you won't hear me complaining - I can take wet, just not cold!

Windy!

I have been hiding both the blazer and this rainbow-starry tank top in my closet for a while now, and I dragged them out because I thought the "professional" and the whimsical aspects were a perfect complement.  And I just love the opportunity to use my polka dot umbrella.  I really like what I'm wearing and it makes me happy already so I think that makes for a good day, don't you?  I don't understand how my classmates can wear sweatpants and a tshirt, or worse, pajamas.  Clothes can be and should be used as a powerful weapon against academic lethargy and demotivation!


(Same goes for tea, obviously!)

Spring

"Spring" has two meanings for me.  One is my favourite season - flowers, nearing summer vacation, warmer weather, St. Patrick's Day, Easter...

The other meaning?  Well, let me show you:  Spring.

This shoe/accessory store was the origin of SIX pairs of new shoes for me this winter.  Thank goodness most were on sale.  They will be duly revealed to you via the Shoe Challenge.  Anyway, the problem right now is not the shoes but the gorgeous bags Spring, the store, is coming out with for spring, the season.  Warning: I love bows, and I love floral print accessories.  I think there's a conspiracy!

This one is my favourite, and it would be ridiculously versatile!

This one is also gorgeous.  Imagine a warm outdoor party!

And here are my favourite of the shoes I bought this winter: they're only $17.49!  I also bought them in black, that's how much I adore these shoes.  They're also amazingly comfortable.

And a photo of me wearing those lovely shoes while on vacation in Mexico before Christmas.  Ah it was so wonderful there...bring on the warm weather!

School tomorrow, bleh...

Funny thing about today is that I've worn three pairs of shoes and I am not counting any one of them for the shoe challenge.  I put on some pink pumps for Sunday Mass only to realize that it had snowed a good 10 centimetres overnight!  My dad had to shovel a path for me to get to the car.

I put on some black shoe-boots to go tutor a high school student, and finally I put on these beige shoes to go to the library and do some schoolwork with Jeff before he heads back to his own university in London tomorrow morning, but we ended up staying to study at my house.  So to use any of these shoes for the shoe challenge just seems contrary to the spirit of it: each pair was hardly worn for any time at all!  I'll have to "save" them all another time.  (If anyone doesn't know about the Shoe Challenge, it's over at Shoeperwoman and the aim is to wear every single pair of your shoes between now and February 14th, 2012, or else you must donate or throw out the shoes you didn't wear.)

Anyway, my outfit for today is very casual so I thought it was a good idea to wear this necklace I got at Petra, in Jordan last year.  (Favourite place I've travelled to ever!)  I don't want to use that old cliché about the "statement piece" so I'll frame it another way.  I think the easiest mistake to make when getting dressed is overdoing it with too many colours, too many accessories, etc.  (The opposite possibility is to wear sweatpants and an old t-shirt, but this is a fashion blog so we'll pretend that doesn't exist!)  Today my outfit was simple enough that I figured I could wear this bold necklace without risking looking overdone.

Today is really my last-ditch effort to get some school work done before early morning classes tomorrow.  I just have no motivation!  I'm supposed to be finishing reading "Moderato cantabile" by Marguerite Duras for a French course but it hasn't happened yet.  At least one good thing about classes starting again is that I'll have a place to wear all my shoes!

Party Outfit, Shoes #3, and Politics

 Since this is Reading Week for us Canadian post-secondary students, I've been relaxing quite a lot.  We're supposed to use the week off to actually read - obviously, no one really thought that through!  University-age kids...a week off...I have definitely not been reading and neither has anyone I know!  But actually, someone who has not been relaxing is my friend Jeff, who's in town from London, Ontario. Last night he kindly took me out for a lovely dinner and then we hit the Drake Hotel, a nightclub here.  I love nightclubs because you can act as crazy, as silly, as carefree as you like and not be strange, so I danced the night away!  I was not dressed in a typical club fashion, because I had thought we would only have dinner and casual drinks in the bar.  So this is an outfit my mother would have probably approved of!

I feel like if you're going out dancing, a swingy skirt is a must: it just makes dancing that much more fun!  The shoes here are my beloved Mary Janes.  The whole outfit is super cheap - the black top is actually a dress that I picked up for $3 at Orfus Road, an outlet strip mall kinda thing in Toronto.  You can't try things on there so I didn't realize it's obscenely short.  This is the first time I had the idea to wear it as a top.  The blue skirt is from Forever 21 for $16, the Mary Janes I got in perfect condition in a thrift store, ($5 maybe?) and the belt came with a skirt for $10.  The skirt is now gone, but I wear this belt all the time.  Funny how things work out sometimes.  So if I don't count the belt, this outfit is $24, and all of these items are easy to wear.  Wardrobe success!

Here's my "super-studious-student" outfit for today, which I am planning to spend catching up on schoolwork.

 So far I have yet to do any schoolwork, and it's almost 4pm.  Late night tonight I think!  But I have a good reason for procrastinating.  I didn't mention before, but I was born in Libya.  My parents lived there for the entire 1980s, teaching in a school run by an oil company for the children of its employees.  That's how they met, and they still have friends there.  So our family is I guess emotionally more affected by the Libya crisis at the moment.  Today we attended a solidarity rally in Toronto.  I was of course dressed inappropriately for the weather!  My legs were numb in the lace tights.  Fortunately the boots proved very comfortable for marching.  Here I am with my twin sister in Toronto's Yonge-Dundas Square.

And while walking around the city I spied this Irish pub.

Pogue Mahone, aka "Kiss my @$$" in Irish Gaelic.  Love it!

Shoe Challenge #2, Frocking Friday, and my ruminations on Modesty

First off: yesterday, I had a bit of time to kill before meeting my friends for dinner and it wasn't worth it to head home, so I popped in at a mall I was near that I rarely go to.  And I got some boots.

In my defence: these boots came to $18.50 even including sales tax!  I love buying things out of season. And I've been wanting lace-up boots forever, they have such a Victorian feel.   And I did need comfortable brown boots, they were even on my long-term shopping list!  That actually exists in the sticky notes on my computer: brown boots have just been removed!  These ones have a heel of maybe 2 inches so I'll have no problem walking all over town in them.

In addition to Shoe Challenge #2, it's Frocking Friday.  I actually participated in all of Dressember, wearing a dress every single day for the whole month of December.  It was freezing at times and to be honest, not entirely fun.  Some days I really wanted to reach for some pants.  Nothing is ever as much fun when you have no choice about it, is it?  But now that Dressember is over, I am back to loving dresses and here is my first Frocking Friday.

Dress with pockets! Love that :D

Anyway folks, I wanted to go over the concept of modesty.  I've been thinking about it a bit.  Yesterday I had a bit of a tiff with my mother over my pink dress: she said it was too short and too tight, and I thought that although it was definitely short, and arguably tight, it was balanced by the high neckline and the overall sweet, girly impression of the outfit thanks to the pink and blue.  Not to mention, I was going to see my friends, not to work or anything.  Anyway, I've stopped trusting my mother's opinion on outfit modesty because she also said today's blue dress is too short.  And I think: it's not THAT short at all, the skirt is full, and the neckline is not revealing at all!  I think my mother's idea of modesty is a little off, which means I don't really take her fashion advice with regard to that (sorry Mom! I do listen to her when it comes to issues like makeup and colour mixing!).

So I wonder, how do you know if something is appropriate?  I generally follow a "one feature rule" whereby I try to limit myself to either a low neckline OR a fitted skirt OR a short skirt.  As in, chest, derrière, or legs, but not all.  Obviously if I'm going to church or to see a professor or for a job interview, the rules change.  What does everyone think?

I drink so much tea, it's a bit of a problem ;)

Have a great weekend!

Molly's Wheelbarrow

Hi!  I'm Molly Malone.  I'm a student of history, political science, and French.  I'm living in my parents' home near Toronto while I finish my undergraduate degree.  And as of now: Molly Malone, fashion blogger.  I'll keep this post short because truthfully, I don't really know how to write a blog yet.  I'm just learning so please be patient with me.  I apologize for these horrible photos: I'm expecting to improve my photography abilities, and maybe even get a better camera after a while!  Maybe next time I'll plan not to have the messy kitchen as the background, not to take the picture in the middle of the night with entirely artificial lighting, and not to balance the camera on the table with the timer and desperately try to position myself before the flash goes off.  Just look how off-centre I am!  Oh well, I guess my elbow wasn't a crucial part of the photo!

Today I went for dinner (Vietnamese food: cheap and delicious, perfect for a job-less student budget!) with two of my friends, John and Patrick.  I was a bit inspired by College Fashion's "Sleeping-Beauty Inspiration."

http://www.collegefashion.net/inspiration/fashion-inspiration-walt-disneys-sleeping-beauty/

I really like CF's "Inspiration" posts because they make me think about possible colour combinations!  Today it was baby blue and pink.  Normally I would think hot pink and baby blue is far too girly a combination for an oh-so-mature 20 year old like me!  But today I just loved the brightness and the cotton candy idea so I thought I'd go for it.  The taupe tights seemed to add a little gravity, but overall I kind of let the, ahem, youthful vibe take over.  I took a couple of pictures with my friends, since they both happened to be wearing bright blue shirts that just went so well with my outfit - it was kind of meant to be!  I'll post them when I get them.

I'm participating in Shoeperwoman's Shoe Challenge.  I'll also post a link to that later when I figure out how things work!  That means I have to wear every pair of shoes and boots I own at least once between now and next Valentine's Day.  These baby blue Hush Puppies kitten heels are actually the second, but the first pair were photographed on film that hasn't been developed yet.  I will be sure to post those soon too.  So two down, 32 pairs to go!