Post by brittanydyan
February 14, 2010 at 8:48 pm
It’s difficult to find two words that bring me greater joy than new shoes. It doesn’t even matter what kind of shoes. When I get a new pair, I must wear them ASAP. I love the look and the smell of new shoes. I love the way they make me feel. I love the way they almost always fit (as opposed to clothing). I can hardly stop looking at my new shoes when I wear them for the first time.
This is the tale of two new pair of shoes that couldn’t be more different. Both pair of shoes were birthday presents in a sense. The one pair was a birthday present from Will, and the other was sort of an annual gift to myself.
The Gray Suede Pumps
I laid my eyes on these shoes while browsing the Urban Outfitters website and mentioned that I liked them very much. However, this isn’t a shoe that I would normally buy for myself. Not really practical enough. However, my attentive husband (who has no problem with purchasing shoes for style rather than practicality) was listening to me and ordered them for my birthday present. At least they are a practical color, which hasn’t always been the case (see patent leather banana-yellow heels).
As new shoes go, these are stylish, elegant, and fit into one of my new goals. I’ve been trying to dress more professionally this semester when I attend the class where I serve as a T.A. It’s a respect thing. The pumps should go well with dress pants, skirts, and dresses. The only problem is that I haven’t been able to wear them yet! The piles of snow and days of melting snow equal a recipe for disaster for all-suede-like shoes. I guess I’ll have to wait until things dry out.
The Nike Running Sneakers
The rule of thumb for running shoes is that they only last (stay in good support condition) for 500 miles. Last year Will bought me some “running” shoes, which are really “cross-training” shoes for my birthday. They have served me well this past year, but I think they have given me their 500 miles. We finally made it over to the Potomac River Running store last night to test out their running shoe technology. I wanted a shoe that would give me the support I needed and that would protect me from injury—and we’d heard good things about PR.
So, I stood on this little machine that measured the pressure in my feet, and I ran on the treadmill so the sales guy could look at the particulars of my gait. He told me a bunch of stuff about how I run nearly neutrally and have a slight arch. He could have been telling me a bunch of bull, and I wouldn’t have known it. He brought out a few pairs that fit my foot type, and all were nice selections. I chose the Nike shoes because of the wide toe and the feather-light feel.
Unlike the suede pumps, I debuted the running shoes this afternoon. And, I ran faster than normal. Not sure if that should be attributed to the shoes or because I have just missed running and was raring to go.
***For those who don’t share a passion for shoes, I apologize for going on for quite a while about something a bit silly.
Post by brittanydyan
February 11, 2010 at 10:47 am
Why no post for day 4, 5, or 6? Because we are bored. That’s why. Although we have experienced an event that will go down in history, the last few days have been uneventful to a great degree. Cabin fever set in early and continues to fester. We are hoping (fingers crossed) that this is the last day we will be kept indoors. There is a permanent dip in the couch from where my butt has been for the past several days.
To be fair and accurate, we did get out for a few hours on Tuesday morning (before Snoverkill). We went to Panera in Silver Spring to get some breakfast and do some work. It was packed and you could feel the fever. The anxiety of going home was palpable. We all knew that once we left Panera and headed home–we wouldn’t be out for another couple of days.
Our internet has been off and on, which makes doing school work difficult. And, television options have been limited since we got rid of cable last week, and the local channels feel like they must have complete, 24 hour coverage of the storm. And, I’m in between books without something easy lying around to get into. I read the first 2 pages of Roots and then stopped. I need to get back to it.
We did watch the entire first season of Friday Night Lights in a matter of days (thanks Robert and Deidra). It took a few episodes, but we really got into it. If you like football, or can relate to a town’s obsession with football, it’s a nice drama. Sure, not every storyline is completely realistic, but I don’t think that’s a requirement for a great television show. Clear eyes, full hearts, can’t lose.
Here are the pics promised from a few days ago.
Squirrels watch out!
Shoveled snow bank
There's a car under there
Stir crazy anyone?
Post by brittanydyan
February 7, 2010 at 8:33 pm
The storm is over and clean up has begun.
Snow removal is a big job, and this area of the country is not know for doing it well. I give GHI an A+ for getting the coop community passable by this afternoon. Will also gets an A+ for digging the car out of the snow/ice crust. Greater Greenbelt gets a B- for clearing the roads well enough for cars with 4 wheel drive. We know this because we, for better or worse, headed out this afternoon for a little drive.
Can you blame us? We really needed some pizza. And, the rumor was that Safeway would be open. Well, Safeway wasn’t open, and CVS ran out of Digorno’s frozen pizzas. Our only option left was to order from Papa John’s and pick it up another half a mile away. This half mile turned out to be much more troubling than the first mile. Without going into details, we made it back unscathed. Perhaps not the smartest decision we’ve ever made. But, the pizza tasted great, and we got out of the house.
Day 3 has had many advantages over Day 2, all having to do with the maintenance of electric power. I sincerely hope that power will be restored to those without it very soon. Yes, it was boring to not have television, Internet, and limited laptop/cellphone access. And, yes it was annoying to not shower and pack our refrigerated food items in the snow. But, the worst part was that it was really starting to get cold in our house. A warm place to stay is something for which to be very thankful.
As for today, I tackled such exciting tasks as laundry and cleaning out the filing cabinet. Later, we filled out visa applications (fun) and became very frustrated with the process of filing our taxes online (not fun).
Since the federal government and the University are closed tomorrow, there will be a Day 4. Perhaps we will update with pictures if we are inspired.
