Shoes as an aid to procrastination.

I currently have a ‘to-do’ list that looks like it might take about two years to get through – so I took the best course of action and did a bit of fantasy online window shopping.  Some time back I’d seen a pair of Christian Loubontin ‘Peep Dorsay’ shoes that I had taken quite a fancy to, but I’ve had no luck in locating them today. Not that there’s much chance of me actually buying them in this or any other lifetime – but I was indulging in that whole escape-from-reality thing.

   I ended up (in a virtual sense) at Saks Fifth Avenue, where these Ernesta Plateau Sandals (also by Loubontin) caught my eye. A touch of the porn star/lap dancer about them but I can see they might have their uses. And a mere $785.00, too – it was all I could do to stop reaching for my credit card. It would, of course, have been declined but I would have had my two minutes of excitement for the day.

   During my little ‘shopping trip’ I also discovered this Miu Miu Crochet Frame Bag, which has now been reduced (surprise, surprise) from $1,050.00 to a much more manageable $734.00. Try to contain yourself – I know you so want it. It is clearly a masterpiece of a bag – a ‘must-have’ for every woman’s wardrobe…   

Okay – I’ll stop now. I wouldn’t be seen dead with that woolly-looking disaster on my arm, even if they paid me. Well, if they really did pay me (anything more than, say, a fiver) I probably would cart it about for while but they’d have to let me sell it on eBay afterwards.

Now I have to force myself to do a bit of cleaning around here before someone makes an anonymous call to Kim and Aggie.
 

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Go Fug Yourself — now!

You’ve just got to get over to Go Fug Yourself and have a look at their Freaky Fug Friday: The Pussycat Dolls post. Totally spot-on — especially their Babybel cheese observation. Those Fugly girls just get better and better.

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Stitchy McYarnpants is up for a Webby!

It’s true, Stitchy McYarnpants from The Museum of Kitschy Stitches has been nominated for a Webby. Remember her Christmas Craptacular? You must, because I wrote about it here ages ago and I know you hang on to my every word.

I’ve just voted for her on the People’s Voice  site AND I left a comment on Stitchy’s site. I don’t know what’s come over me, but I getting brave and losing my shyness. Those Webby people have put Stitchy in the ‘Weird’ section, though.  Bloody cheek — Stitchy is as normal as you or I.

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The Million Dollar Homepage — why didn’t we think of that?

For some reason I decided to pay my first ever visit to Alex Tew’s Million Dollar Homepage today. The home page is now filled, of course, and made Alex a fair few quid. I haven’t checked out just how beneficial it was to the page’s advertisers but I do like the ‘own a piece of internet history’ spraff at the top of the page.

I’ve noticed that there’s a tendency for some people to get all bitter and twisted about Alex’s success with his Million Dollar venture and now his detractors seem to be positively gloating over what they see as the relative lacklustre performance of his Pixelotto. 

The resentment is probably related to the fact that they wished they’d thought of the idea first and also partly due to a perception that it was too much like easy money for Alex. Anyway, I wish Alex all the best with whatever he comes up with next – but that is because I am a very nice person.

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   Moving on to something of far greater importance.  Shoes.  I bought these Pure Leather Crossgrain flats today. Not my usual type of shoe at all, I can tell you. And I bought them in a shop where I’d only previously shopped for food and where I’d never even thought of the so-called fashion items as being remotely wearable. Guess where it was.
No, go on – guess.
Go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on.
Forget it. I have the sudden urge for a cup of tea.
But I do love those cute little shoes – that photo does them no justice at all.

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Shoes: peace and love, man

  Enjoy a summer of love with these red leather Flower Wedges from Angeline Tourier. A mere 119 hippy-dippy £’s.

   These leather IC Pinch Toe Lattice Sandals are by the excellent Irregular Choice. Undeniably freaky but strangely lovely — just like some of you good folk, no doubt. £49 at Schuh. 

   You may think I’ve taken leave of my senses but I’m pretty taken with these Harlot Vent Peep Toe Courts from Hard Hearted Harlot. I’m not too keen on the colour and I’ve never liked scalloped edges but it’s the popper and the removable heel-cover that does it for me (I like the name too — though I know such things shouldn’t count…).   £79  at Schuh.

   The white sling-backs are from Alexander McQueen’s Spring 2006 collection but I’ve included them here because they remind of the kind of shoe that one of Hitchcock’s leading ladies might wear (think The Birds – one of my all-time favourite movies).  I found them on the Elle site but I’m not sure who’s selling these now.

   If you’re doing a bit of festival-going this summer, these Tapestry Funky Wellies might be a bit of fun. Wearing them on a visit to the country may lead to sly sneers and behind-your-back jibes, though.  As if you’d care.  £25.99 from Fred’s Clothing.

By the way, did you notice that I’ve went back to the thumbnail images — the bigger ones looked a bit overpowering.

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How often do you check your blog stats?

I’ve been so busy trying to set up my new damn router that I missed the fact that this blog has been around a whole year now. Which is no big deal to anybody but me.  In fact, when I think about it, it’s no big deal to me either. But I enjoy writing here, so I think I’ll be hanging around for a good while yet.

When I first started out here, I was checking my stats incessantly and then some. I’m still stat-checking way too much but a lot less than in the early days. But I do think I’ve got something not too far off Obsessive Compulsive Disorder when it comes to the whole ‘checking’ business. It’s not just 2planets but also my other websites, my emails, the forums I visit and (especially) the Google Adwords account I use for a commercial site. Most of this checking seems to be done without very much conscious attention and sometimes I realise I’ve not even registered what the stats actually are.

I did a quick Google search and it wasn’t too much of a surprise to find out that I’m not alone when it comes to excessive stat-checking. Some people are totally obsessed with their stats and can check them dozens of times a day. Made me feel a lot better – but then I noticed some of the stats they were quoting: ‘around a 1000 a day’, ‘usually 500-700 a day – but I’ve only been going about 3 weeks…’, ‘up to 4000 uniques’.

Stroll on – the one and only day I hit 200 visitors (a fluke) I thought I’d died and gone to heaven. Well, not really, but it did give me a little boost. So I started reading about some of the strategies people suggest for increasing blog visitors (other than having interesting/topical content and good writing skills) and I realised I’m a total novice when it comes to blog promotion — I’ve done nothing, other than add this blog to a handful of blog directories.

I’m not sure yet if I will be employing any of the strategies I’ve been reading about. I’ve got mixed feelings about the whole business of ‘promoting’ a blog and why visitor numbers should be that important in the first place. I think I’d be a lot less relaxed about writing here if I knew it was going to be read by a large number of people and I’d feel pressured to keep up some (admittedly, non-existent) standard when it comes to what I write. I wonder if the writers of hugely popular blogs enjoy their blogging as much as they did in the days when they were just starting off and if they now feel more pressured to ‘produce the goods’.

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I’ve just remembered I’m supposed to be writing about shoes this week.  Here are a couple of pairs that I actually like — both from the Eley Kishimoto spring/summer 2007 collection.

The top pair have a kind of retro 1970’s look about them, I feel, and the shape and styling of the second pair might be reminiscent of the 1940’s era. The Eley Kishimoto website doesn’t have an online shopping facility yet, but you can buy the strappy pair at ASOS for £160. It might mean not eating for a month but, if you can still stand, you’re feet will love you for it.

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Best Blogs: DrWhose is at it again!

I’m supposed to be going out in about two seconds but I’m dropping (practically) everything to point you to the Hat’s Off post by Mark Freeland at DrWhose. It has been said (by me) that I’m obsessed by DrWhose and I’m not even denying it.

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