Zapatos!

I've already publicly professed my love for all things girly, but this weekend I took it to a new extreme. Lately, I've had wedding shoes on my mind. I have a dress fitting coming up in a couple months (still waiting for that call!) and my goal was to score a pair of hot heels to take with me on my first fitting. When I mentioned this to Mr. Tortolito a while ago, he made an offer that I simply could not resist: "how about I buy you a nice pair of wedding shoes as your wedding gift?"

And take him up on his offer I did. (jaja, and I think he's regretting it already!)

I planned on jumping on the colored shoes bandwagon because...

...how hot is this!! {Source}

So, I entered Neiman Marcus dead set on finding a pair of deep wine heels to match the darker shade of our color scheme. For the most part, I gawked and asked stupid questions:

"Um, do you guys carry Jimmy Choos?"
Salesman: "No. We carry Manolo Blahniks. It's either/or at any department store."

For real? Is this common knowledge cuz they def didn't teach me this in engineering school.

Anyways, I asked the salesman for recommendations instead. I wanted something kinda sexy, loud yet subtle, and comfortable enough to wear for a wedding. Oh, and size 34.5 (4.5 in US sizes). And thats where we had a problem. Apparently, these designers make size 34.5 shoes, but no one wants to carry them. Probably because 10 year old girls or women with feet the same size as a 10 year old girl don't shop for shoes at Neiman Marcus. Oh wells.

The salesman showed me the one bridal shoe that was in stock in my size. Manolo Blahnik Carolyne in classic white satin:

{Source}

ehhh...I liked them. But. I didn't LOVE them. Don't get me wrong, they are beautiful shoes and fit great. The satin was dyeable, but did I really want to get a pristine white pair of Manolo Blahniks only to dye them? Probably not. So I continued the shoe search at Saks and then Barneys, both of which did not carry size 34.5, but a certain shoe had caught my eye by this point. After learning that no one carried this shoe (or any shoes by this designer) in my size, I was told that I would have more luck visiting his boutique a few miles away: the Christian Louboutin boutique. I didn't even know we had one of these in LA!

So off I went with Mr. Tortolito (who couldn't have been more patient in my pursuit for the perfect wedding shoe) to this mysterious boutique where I found my dream shoes:

{Source}
the Yoyo

I first saw these shoes in a dark maroon color at Barneys. Unfortch, the boutique didn't carry them in that color but they did have them in Bone, as seen above. They still match our color scheme and my clutch perfectly! I LOVE them. They were just what I was looking for and I will so wear them again. Here's the funny part: the boutique did not have them in size 34.5 either. They rarely carry that size at the LA store. boo! I ended up taking home a size 35 pair. They recommended that I take the shoes to a shoe repair store down the street that they normally work with. There, I can get padding installed in the midsole which would not only make them super comfy, it would give me that extra .5 size for a perfect fit. Perfecto! Now if I could only find the perfect wedding gift for Mr. Tortolito. Got any ideas?

Are there any other small-footed brides out there that can relate to my shoe frustrations?

Hello, I Love You

I'm a girly-girl in many senses of the word. I love me some hot stilettos, makeup, fashion, fruity bath products... know what I mean ladies? One of my daily "girl" rituals is visiting the Gilt Groupe website for my dose of fashion and beauty eye candy. They've got some super deals on everything from designer gowns to hair products. For the most part, I browse and gawk at their sale items thinking that 70% off that $2,500 Oscar de la Renta dress is such a steal but still something that I would never buy. Sometimes, just sometimes, I'll get lucky and come across an item that I really need and can actually afford. In this case, it was an accessory that I had been on the lookout for.

Say hello to Flor*:


{Source}

I happened across her while browsing through a sale for Santi handbags (I've never heard of them either). She caught my attention and I threw her in my shopping cart immediately. Those Gilt Groupe items gets snatched up like crazy, so I allowed myself the 5-minute hold time to reason over why I needed to purchase her.

-Do I need a purse for the wedding?: How can I make it through the day without one? I need somewhere to stash my chapstick.

-Does it match your dress?: Not only will it look lovely with my dress, it matches our color scheme.

-Will you use it again?: I promise!

This was enough to convince myself. She was mines!

...and I love her.

::excited face::

Please tell me I'm not the only one who gets this giddy when she adds a new accessory to her collection of girly/wedding items...

*why yes, I really did just name my purse. Flor = flower.