curiousillusion

So back in December, I first heard about a new line of camera bags that were coming out…. a brand called epiphanie, which is a line of bags that looked more like purses, that you could carry everywhere (and would WANT to carry everywhere).  As soon as I saw the bag called Lola (which is the same name as my dSLR), I knew I had to have it.  Well, that and there was a discount code that pushed me over the edge.

The first shipment of bags were due to arrive “sometime in February”.  Imagine my delight when I got an email with my tracking number today… and when I read from that tracking number that my bag was supposed to ARRIVE today.  I’ve spent all day eagerly anticipating it and when I finally got it… it was everything I dreamed it could be.

Warning… the color of the bag tends to vary from picture to picture, it’s my fault as I was shooting in bad lighting.  In real life it’s a vibrant red, a cherry red, a bit more red than in the pictures (in the pics below it seems to be almost coral).

First of all, it arrived nicely sealed with a cute little sticker:

I wanted to save the sticker but in my excitement to get at the bag, it tore.

It has it’s own dust cover (to keep the bag in when you’re not using it), mine is purple, which matches my bag’s interior (not sure if they’re all purple or if they all match the interior of the bag).

Isn’t it pretty?!  According to the website, the exterior is supposed to be “water-resistant, high quality synthetic leather”. (It also comes with a detachable long strap, for carrying across your body… not shown).

They slipped some of these cute little cards with quotes in the pockets, it was such a treat to get them (each card was different).  There are two exterior pockets (one on each side) and one interior pocket.

The inside, as I said, is a light purple… and it has removable panels (four small ones and two long ones that you can rearrange in any way you want).

I like this little hangtag, which (if you turn it over) doubles as a mirror (yes, I’m such a girl… that was the first thing that went through my mind).  I also love the attention to detail.  It looks and feels very well-made… my co-worker really likes the knots on each side, as do I.

My new epiphanie bag is currently filled with the following: my Nikon D90, with the kit lens (18-105mm, aka the BIG lens), my 50mm lens, my macro filters, uv filter, lens cleaning pen, wallet, spare battery, iPhone, notebook, and other random odds and ends… oh and mini Danbo, of course.  And there’s still room for more.  I could definitely still have space for a flash or a macro lens (sigh, if only I had a macro lens), possibly even both.

I already got one question about the bag: is it easy to access my camera while carrying it on my shoulder.  And the answer, for me, is yes.  I can take off one strap (keeping the other strap on my shoulder) and easily use one hand to grab my camera out of the bag and put it back when I’m done.   Of course, it all depends on how you arrange the removeable panels inside.

Is there anything I don’t like?  Well, I will say that the zipper isn’t as easy to close as it could be – because of the way it’s designed, you can’t do it one handed (you have to pull out the side of the zipper, hold it straight, zip it, then tuck in the side). But I don’t usually zip up my bags so that’s not a deal-breaker for me.  And even if I did zip up my bag all the time, it’s only a little bit of extra work.

Anyway, I’m really pleased with my purchase… the other day I started having doubts about the fact that I ordered something that no one else had seen or reviewed yet but the quality of the bag, not to mention the style, etc is even better than I could have hoped for. If you have any questions about the bag, feel free to leave it in the comments and I will do my best to try to answer them.  As for me… I’m gonna be rocking this bag for QUITE a long time. :)

Lately I’ve been ranting up a storm about something that I find so ridiculous, I can’t wrap my mind around it: my new job’s dress code for women. Now I understand that dress codes are important – my previous job didn’t have much of  a dress code and several employees took advantage, which resulted in some women looking completely inappropriate.  However this dress code is just beyond excessive… and kind of depressing.

My main issue is with the skirt length – it has to fall below the knee.  Now I don’t go for the mini skirt look or anything but every single one of my skirts falls right at or slightly *above* the knee.  It doesn’t make me look unprofessional at all… in fact, I always tend to look professional, if I do say so myself.  A skirt any longer than that would result in me looking frumpy, I’m too short.

But that’s not all.  Shoes are apparently a big deal.  No high heels, no sandals, no open-toed shoes, no clogs, shoes must have backs (not just a strap, an all out back)… basically ballet flats (which I stocked up on over the summer) are all I’m allowed to wear.  Which is fine but most of the time the back of shoes irritate the backs of my feet and pain is not good, especially when I’m standing up all day.

Anyway it’s just too much.  Basically the people who came up with this dress code are men whose wives must completely cover themselves up, due to their culture/religion.  And that’s fine for them (well, I guess it’s fine?) but if that’s the route this job is going, I will not stay longer than a year.  I don’t have much of a wardrobe or a fashion sense, I suppose, but I am not about to spend what little money I earn in order to revamp my clothes to fit the rules.  Yes, pants and a top are appropriate and I do wear that sometimes, but there’s something about a skirt that makes me feel… I don’t know.  Girly?  Professional?  Happy.

So anyway, to heck with that – I’m gonna wear what I’m going to wear.  And if I’m going to get in trouble for wearing a skirt that is above my kneecap instead of below it, then so be it.  (Ok I’m not completely a rebel… a girl at work wore a skirt that was right above her knees for meet the teacher and no one said anything to her.)  As a co-worker said the other day… it is what it is.  I kinda just hope I don’t get in trouble… I love my skirts!

So it’s been a little over a week since I’ve been learning to walk in high heels and wow, my feet have been through a lot.  You’d think that would put me off of wearing high heels but on the contrary – I might be obsessed!  I pay attention to people’s shoes now, whenever I’m in a store I *have* to go look/try on some heels… this is definitely my latest addiction.

Anyway, I’ve learned a lot about wearing heels, so I figured I’d share what I’ve learned.  Keep in mind that these are all relative to me and I might just have weird feet:

• Just because my feet fit into a 5 1/2 shoe, doesn’t mean I should wear them.  In fact, I definitely shouldn’t.  I’m a size 6 and I need the extra room to insert different kinds of cushions to protect my feet.
• Cushions are essential when it comes to wearing high heels for me.  I like Foot Petals Strappy Strips for the straps of my sandals, Aldo Comfort Cushions for the balls of my feet (so I don’t have that burning feeling so soon) and Moleskin for the backs of pumps (you know, right at the edge) that rub against my heels (I  stick them to the inside of shoe).  That’s a LOT of cushioning, which is why I need room in my shoes… the Aldo and Foot Petals take away quite of bit of space, making some shoes *really* snug.  It’s enough to make me consider wearing a 6 1/2!
• Peep toe + high heels = squished toes.  For me, anyway.  As much as I LOVE peep toe shoes, there never seems to be enough space for my little toesies.  That probably won’t stop me from wanting them, or maybe wearing them.
• A shoe might fit fine in the store.  They might feel fine walking around in the house.  However there’s something about walking around outside that brings out the worst in shoes.  Be prepared… I never leave the house anymore without several forms of band-aids.
• Toe overhang is ugly, and an unfortunate side effect, it seems, of open-toed high heels.  It’s enough to make me not want to buy open-toed shoes anymore.
• I’ve become pretty good at hiding my pain.  The blisters can be everywhere, the strap is really digging in but I can walk in and out of a store and pretend like it’s no big deal.  Until I get to the privacy of my car, where I can cry in private.

On all those notes, I think I’m officially retiring this pair of shoes that my mother bought me the other weekend:

Cute, right? Unfortunately they are a size 5 1/2 which means that the strap digs into my heel like it’s trying to kill me, there’s no room for cushioning under the ball of my foot, and they’re peep toe which means my toes get squished.  Sigh.  I’ve tried to get used to them but it’s just not going to happen.  They’re not even 2 weeks old either.

That being said, I think I’m getting better at this heel wearing stuff.  I think.  I mean, I’m nowhere near lasting the whole day, but I can go longer than an hour and I call that progress!  Meanwhile, I’m trying to break in this pair of shoes:

Can you see the moleskin attached to the back?  Lol, how embarrassing.   Anyway, I’ve never been a fan of pumps before but these shoes changed my mind, I absolutely adore them, plus they have a really thick heel, which makes it easier to walk around in.  They do hurt a bit though, hence my “breaking them in”, I wish I could find a pair of heels that fit just right, right away!

Meanwhile, I have come upon the realization that there are so many lovely shoes out in the world… and so little money. :)

Aka, “the day my feet nearly fell off”.  Or “the things we do for beauty”.  Quite possibly “the longest blog post title in the world”.

Yes, another blog post about shoes. My life is boring right now.  Maybe one day I’ll finally have enough money for my dslr (or, even better, I’ll get a job!) and I’ll be able to talk about that but for now I’m gonna complain about my poor, beat up feet.

I had never really been one to pay attention to shoes in the past.  The highlight of my life, shoe-wise, was finally getting a pair of loafers in middle school, which were mysteriously all the rage back then.  Beyond that, I always just focused on finding shoes that fit right and didn’t cause me pain – my feet are small, narrow and a bit funky (you can’t tell by looking at them) so finding comfortable shoes is difficult.  I discovered some Sketcher shoes (not all of them) that felt pretty good and I pretty much lived in them.

That is, until Sex and the City came on.  Suddenly there was a whole new world waiting for me to explore – high heels.  They came in different styles, different colors, and the women always looked fabulous wearing them – tough, fierce, powerful, sexy.   I mean, it’s not like I was about to go buy a pair of Manolo Blahniks or anything, they are hardly in my budget… but I just wanted so bad to be able to pull off similar pairs of shoes.  I’ve always fancied myself a Charlotte, I adore her style and would love to imitate it, right down to her choice of footwear, which I always thought were the most adorable.  (Sidebar: I found a pair of shoes that were totally Charlotte-like today… unfortunately they didn’t fit right. I still nearly bought them though, they were that cute.)  On a different note, I’ve always been in awe of the way Carrie seemed to be able to literally run down the street in sky high heels.  And her shoes were always amazingly colorful and outrageous, they looked like so much fun.

Unfortunately for me, I always seem to look like I’m playing dress up when I’m wearing high heels.  I don’t have a sexy walk, I look completely awkward.  Not to mention, I can’t ever seem to wear them.  I mean, I’m lucky, I have a mother that believes I should wear high heels and once a year or so, she’ll buy me a pair.  And they’ll fit okay in the store so I think “maybe this time I’ll be able to wear them”.  But the one time I do wear them, within a half hour the blisters have formed, the balls of my feet have started burning and I have to take them off.  Back to the closet they go.

This week I’ve been more than determined – I’ve been on a mission.  I bought 3 new pairs of fabulous heels over the weekend and I was NOT going to let them sit in the closet, unused. Every day I’ve been wearing them, mainly around the house or to check the mail.  But that’s the thing, wearing them around the house is fine.  It’s just when I get out into the world that I have problems.  I went to the mall Monday and ended up walking for nearly an hour straight.  After about a half hour, I was in complete pain. I attacked my feet with band-aids and went a bit easier for the next 2 days, only venturing to one store each day.  But today I thought I was ready for the big guns.  An hour at a mall proved me wrong… I had to hobble into a changing room to apply the band-aids.  8 of them.

I keep telling myself that maybe it’s like going to the gym… the first week was hard and I was sore and then after that it got better.  Maybe if I push past the pain, eventually my feet will get used to it and I’ll be able to sashay all over town, looking grownup at last, and fabulous.  Unfortunately I haven’t seen any improvement but maybe eventually… ?

Plus I figure, if the women from Sex and the City can do it… I can too.  Maybe.  Hopefully.

You know that job interview that I was supposed to have today?  It got canceled.  Yeah, I got a phone call this morning saying that “there was no longer going to be a position open for the fall”.  I think that means one of two things happened: they hired someone that they interviewed yesterday, or the teacher that originally held the position decided to keep it after all.  Anyway, I emailed the principal, expressing my further interest in the school, asking her to keep me in mind should anything else come up. I got a “we’ll be happy to do that, and good luck” email in return.

Meanwhile I’ve decided I’m going to borrow my parents’ Tom Tom next week and drive around to schools, dropping off my resume and hopefully even just saying hi to principals.  I’m a bit nervous about that as I’ve never done it before but at this point, whatever it takes to get them to remember me, right?  I found out today that a few of my friends back in San Antonio got teaching positions this week and while I’m so happy for them, I’m just completely jealous.  Wish it were me.

My other thing that I mentioned yesterday was that I was going to try kickboxing at the gym.  Well that didn’t work out at all, I got the times wrong… so I ended up going to the aerobics hip hop class instead.  It was a lot of work and I laughed at myself the whole time, as I looked ridiculous.  Anyway this morning I woke up and I am SORE.  From head to toe, I just hurt.

I think the other reason why I’m sore is my shoes.. for the past 3 days I’ve been making myself wear my high heels.  I don’t wear them for long – I walk around the house in them, maybe go to the store real fast, but I’m hoping that eventually I’ll get used to them.  After all, right now my calves and my arches (I think) hurt… maybe it’s like going to the gym – the first week it is painful and then after that it’s not so bad.  That’s what I hope anyway.  So that’s the reason why I skipped the gym today, I figured I’d need a day of rest, especially since I’ll be at the gym for the next 3 days.

Tomorrow needs to be a better day.

I tend to do really dumb things, really often.  I always defend myself by saying that I thought it through but in reality, it seems like I wasn’t even thinking.  Case in point: today. This is kind of embarassing but I’m going to post this because maybe it’ll teach me a lesson… although you would think I would have learned it already.

Remember how I said I bought some fabulous heels on Saturday, the most comfortable heels I’ve ever found (made even more impressive by the fact that they have 4 inch heels)?  Well I became slightly obsessed over them.  See, having them in white is nice and all but how often do I really wear white heels?  Black goes with so much more and, well, if I have just found heels that I can actually wear on a regular basis… how can I pass that by?!

I went online to see if I could find the black heels anywhere locally, but no luck according to the macys.com “find it in the store” button.  Now they DID have them online but they weren’t on sale, so they were going to be a good $45 more expensive, when you factor in shipping and all that.  But I HAD to have them and I didn’t stop to think… I ordered them Sunday night.

So then today I went to a different Macy’s, for a random reason and stopped by to look at the shoes.  I was told they DO have the black heels here in town, at the Galleria.  I called, confirmed and placed them on hold… and then drove like a madwoman to the Galleria to get them, realizing that if I buy them locally, I will save myself that $45.  I tried to call Macy’s online to cancel my order… but it was too late.  They had shipped this morning.

The good news is that I can return the order to the store, no problem, and get my money back.  Well most of it.  The bad news is that I’m out $14 for shipping, and I’m kicking myself because if I would have had some patience or maybe just common sense (and called around instead of trusting the website), I wouldn’t have this happen to me.

Meanwhile, running around the Galleria for 45 minutes (after a good 30 minutes walking around at the other mall) made me realize that, no matter how comfortable these heels are… heels are never going to be all that comfortable.  Suffice it to say, I hurt. But to heck with that, I’m gonna push through the pain and wear these shoes until my feet get used to them – I am determined to wear heels.  Especially after what these ones put me through.

Sheesh, you’d never see a post like this on a men’s blog.  They don’t suffer like we do.  Or I do.

Sigh.  I woke up this morning and realized it was payday (for some reason, my bank gets the funds a day before most banks).  I paid bills and put money into savings just like a good little girl… and then when I realized I actually had quite a bit of money to last me the next two weeks, what did I do?  I went shopping.  And now I’m back to being broke.

Okay, not really broke, I’m exaggerating.  I definitely have enough money to get me through the next 2 weeks, no problem.  But I did go out and spend way too much money.   Just a lot of random stuff and enough for me to know I went overboard.  I think part of it might be that when I was living in San Antonio, funds were very tight and I had to work extra hard *just* to get all the bills paid.  Living with my parents grants me a bit more freedom and I’m using the opportunity to put more money into savings and pay down credit cards.  And actually being able to go to the store to buy some clothes for the first time in a while, and then *still* be able to have money for gas… well that’s a nice change.

Meanwhile, I’m a unique type of shopper.  I know what I’m looking for, I get in, get it and get out.  I don’t like lingering in stores, looking over every single rack to see what I can find – no!  If I’m looking for shirts, I’m looking for shirts.  If something else catches my eye, that’s great… but that’s about it.  A shopping trip with me takes very little time – and that’s just the way I like it.

Anyway, I’m done spending money for now… I have enough clothes to get me through the summer now, and I’ve noticed lately that I’ve been spending a lot less money on junk – I don’t eat out like I used to, no more sodas, no more Starbucks.  It’s all adding up which is great because that’s more money for, say, the dslr.  And all the accessories that aren’t included with it.

Just wait, eventually I’ll be posting a confession where I’ve spent money on a new lens or filter or something.  But I’m sure there’s nothing wrong with that!

I’m such a girl… even though I deny liking shopping, I think I have to admit that I really do love it. Maybe it’s more like, I prefer shopping on my own… whenever I shop with others, I’m forced to go at their speed, dawdle and wait. I’m more of a whirlwind, in and out, I know what I like, I try it on, and then I’m on to the next thing.

My latest shopping loves are shoes and dressy/casual shirts. I say dressy/casual because I like finding clothes I can wear at work AND on the weekends. And shoes because… well I think I may have been watching too much Sex and the City – I love the heels the girls wear and I wish I could afford them. Not even the expensive shoes, but just the different colors and styles… heels make me feel more grownup or something silly.

Too bad I can’t ever seem to last more than an hour wearing them, especially in my profession. I’m determined though, starting now I’m going to try to wear heels more often. As my blog is my witness… lol! Wish me luck?

Oh and btw, sorry I didn’t get to follow up on the suggestions from yesterday. The weather made sure that any outdoor activities were postponed/canceled. Maybe tomorrow if I get a chance…

Dream has been one of my favorite words for quite a while. Not sure why, I guess I just like all the potential it has… I remember it being part of one of my first screen names, back when I was in high school, partly for the song “Beautiful Dreamer”.

Anyway, the chain is a bit long (I pulled it in the back for the picture, it really goes down almost to my white tee) but I really like it!