Jeffrey Campbell Climbers

I better write about my new 2010 boots before it turns into sandal weather. I'm always drawn to accessories with buckles and clips and hardware and a lot going on. Well, check out the hardware on these shoes.

Image from Solestruck

Intense, huh? I saw this image and that was it. I thought they were fun and tough and whimsical, all rolled into one four-inch heeled package. And surprisingly easy to walk in.

There was the one day, however, when I was walking briskly in my boots to the bus stop and I realized something was dragging from my shoe.

Somehow, impossibly, a tree branch had lodged itself into one of the buckles on my shoe.

The branch was larger than this but I had to snap it off in order to get on the bus...

Motorcycles on Ice Weekend

This happened way back in January, but the sheer amount of photos I took put me off from writing about it. I am feeling invigorated, so let's go through the rundown of my trip to Norfolk to visit my some of my bestest friends Emily, Andy, Lauren and their dog Jasper.

I'll put a cute puppy photo first to up page views.

Emily and Andy live right near the water, but alas, it was too freezing that weekend to walk on the beach. Note to self - cape does not cut it in any winter weather, even in the south.

Digging this Mod tsunami warning sign, Norfolk!

Part of the weekend was devoted to making prototype whoopie pies for Lauren's fledgling business. I don't have to tell you that they were delicious. We even made logos and packaging mock-ups. Jasper stole one off the table, but he was nice enough to bring it back untouched.

We also jammed out a little (well, I played a maraca shaped like an orange). Here is Emily on guitar, Andy on mandolin and Lauren on accordion, working under the name "Family Band."

The big event of the weekend was checking out something at the Hampton Coliseum called Motorcycles on Ice. Who knew? The motorcycles had no brakes, just spikes on their tires to race around a small ice rink. We settled in to our seats (I was the only one in the arena wearing a cape, I noted), and the smell of exhaust wafted from backstage. The very first race, one minute in, a motorcycle driver immediately crashed into the wall and lay crumpled under the bike, not moving. "Paramedics to the ice," the announcer intoned.

Not a good introduction to motorcycles on ice. I was beginning to feel like a Roman at the original coliseum. Luckily, he was OK.

And the show continued. And boy, did it continue. I think I saw every vehicle short of a car race on ice. ATVs, golf carts, even Vespas. I'm good on the ice motorsport front for awhile.

Here's the children's division. Yes, really.

But then something peculiar happened. There was a female racer with a bright pink ATV riding in some of the races. I didn't notice her at first, but then I realized she wasn't just beating the men, she was schooling them. Crowd favorite for sure. She made it to the finals and in an out of body moment, I realized that I had risen to my feet and was cheering, screaming at the top of my lungs almost involuntarily, for her to win it all. Against all odds, I had gotten into ice ATV racing.

Here is "First Lady of ICE" Mandy Brodil with her daughter at the award ceremony.

NYC Weekend March 2010

Photos from my quick trip to NYC this past weekend.

Stoop sitting outside of the Lower East Side Tenement Museum.

How joyous is this scene? You have to go to a Fuerza Bruta performance. I don't want to say much about it because I think it's better that way, but rest assured, it is a spectacle. Also, you may get wet. And that's all I will say.

My friend Amy suggested the show and I said why not, as long as I don't get pulled onstage to dance. Sure enough, a dancer grabbed me by the elbow and tried to drag me on stage. My feet were rooted to the floor, an expression of absolute terror on my face. "No, please, anything but that."

Amy went onstage instead, and she was terrific! A star is born!

My diet over the weekend was not particularly healthy. I give you: pieces of pizza that dwarf Jumbo Slice. (Cell phone denotes a sense of scale).

How can you not be happy while eating a cupcake from a place called "sugar Sweet sunshine."

Moosey

I bought my friend a cardboard moose for a wedding gift. Specifically, this one:

West Elm Safari Kraft Moose

I was hoping that it would be the weirdest present she received, but another friend shipped her a 2.5 foot high ride-on walking triceratops kids toy. Darn it! That takes the cake.

I liked the little cardboard moose, and I figured if anyone could make it work, it would be Roxanne.

Here's her awesome flat from when she lived in Scotland, wish I had taken a picture of the floor boards painted varying colors of acid green.

And here's the moose in his new home in Denver, in a built-in wine rack (they don't drink, so seems like a good place for a cardboard moose).

Homemade Pizza Company

There is a Homemade Pizza Company now in Glover Park - yesterday was the grand opening party, and of course I went and stood in line for 40 minutes (give or take) to get my free pizza.

You see, I'm obsessed with this stuff. As my friend Christine said, I've never met a pizza I didn't like, but Homemade Pizza Co. is especially fun. You buy the unbaked pizza and then make it yourself in your oven at home and they have highbrow combinations of fresh ingredients to choose from.

Total yuppie pizza.

A few weeks ago, I was walking down 14th Street carrying a fancy pizza in a clear plastic bag in one hand and a mustard yellow purse with birds on it in the other. (Put a bird on it!)

The only way I could get yuppie-r is if I had a yoga mat slung over my shoulder.

But I digress. Let's talk Glover Park Pizza Party.

The fanfare.

The line.

The fruits of my labor.

I finally reached the front of the line and was next to go inside the storefront to place my order. I was busily tweeting this important factoid, when I heard multiple voices yelling, "Hey lady, it's your turn!"

I told Joe this, and he said, that was pretty yuppie. Tweeting on my iPhone about yuppy pizza, followed by blogging about said pizza.

Anyway I finally picked up my wild mushroom pizza and left the store with an air of triumph. Free pizza! Free pizza! Only to immediately step in a pile of dog poop on the sidewalk.

Seinfeld was right, the universe does have a way of evening itself out.

Tsunamii

Rainboots are the most practical of shoe purchases. I bought these Steve Madden rainboots this year and wondered why it took so long to buy a pair. It's a gamechanger. I can stomp in puddles gleefully. And the orange stripe is super cute.

But there is a problem. The longer I wear them, my feet seem to conform to the boot and it's nearly impossible to take them off. Even with the zipper! Yesterday I had both boots halfway off, but neither would come all the way off, which was debilitating, and I was starting to fret that I might have to call someone to help. After some persistence, I was finally free. Phew!

So pluses and minuses to rubber shoes. Are Hunter boots any better?

Look, I got a shelf to get more organized. This is good and bad because now I have room for more shoes.