So, after a promising start things really hit a bit of a hiatus here, huh?!
Well, not quite. I have been busily beavering away at getting all my lovely shoes worn, and have been documenting the process on Instagram, but over here? Not so much! It hasn’t been intentional, but during my first trimester I was feeling so rough that a quick post to the ‘Gram was all I could really manage. Then suddenly two months had passed and collating all those pictures just seemed like a lot of effort when I really just wanted to spend my brief and precious child free moments napping on the sofa in front of Dawson’s Creek (yes, I’m re-watching Dawson’s Creek, and both loving it and cringing with equal abandon…) I opened this very draft several times with full intentions of writing the post, but more often than not I only got as far as amending the title to accommodate how much more time had casually slipped away before staring blankly at the screen for an hour or so and giving up. Two months turned to three months. Then three to four, and I returned to work from furlough, making that spare time even more elusive, and that is when the dreaded anxiety kicked in. By now I had reached that utterly ridiculous place of wanting desperately to write the post for tidiness (I couldn’t simply skip 4 months and start again from June like nothing happened, despite the fact barely anyone would notice, because WRONG!) and feeling like it had now snowballed into such a mammoth task that I just couldn’t face it. So I did what every self respecting procrastinator would do and completely ignored the problem as though maybe the post would magically write itself. It did not, of course, and I’m still kind of bitter about it, but here we are in July and I finally pulled my finger out. What can I say – time flies when you’re growing two babies!
Now, I appreciate there is a tiny, tiny chance that I may have completely over estimated just how much anyone actually cares about this little challenge of mine – I mean, how you could possibly find anything more enthralling than knowing exactly which of my shoes I’ve worn on any particular day is beyond me, but you know, each to their own and all that… Anyhow, I’ve decided to spare you the torture of scrolling through approximately a billionty photos of my outfits and shoes and give you a quick little summary of where we’re at instead. Those of you who have been tentatively waiting on the edge of your seats for this important update can always pop over to Instagram to view the hashtag #stephsaveshershoes if you want to see those outfits and shoe saves in full!
So without further ado – because let’s be honest, that was actually quite a lot of ado to simply say ‘oops, soz’ – let’s crack on!
Pregnancy has obviously thrown a bit of a potential spanner in the works. I always knew that I would rattle through the first few months fairly easily before getting them worn got tricky, but I figured as long as I planned in lots of date nights and made the most of the Christmas party season at the end of the year to get the fancier shoes worn, it was very much a do-able challenge. Of course, the reality is, lugging around an extra 2 stone of baby weight is going to make trotting around in frivolous heels much more difficult, and I have to face facts that even going well I doubt we’ll be having many exciting date nights while I’m the approximate size of a beached whale, and I’m not going to be doing a whole load of partying this Christmas with newborn twins to take care of! Then factor in that worst case scenario could see me have a prolonged spell in hospital in the coming months and it’s not looking great! But while I may be a terrible procrastinator I do like to finish the job, so I’m determined to carry on for now, and even if we do hit a point where I have to admit defeat, I’ll be looking to pick up and resume at a later stage. I still see the value of this little game of mine – it’s already caused me to have a harsh clear out of the shoes I don’t really wear any more, and I’ve been very restrained on the buying front since I started, so it definitely still has merit, and that is keeping me going for now.
About those buying habits though…
I haven’t been completely angelic. There have been two more shoe purchases since I last updated you. Actually, now I come to think of it I do feel a bit angelic, because:
- 2 new pairs in 4 months is incredibly low for me and definite proof my shopping habits are changing!
- they were both second hand!
- they were both flats, which I never have any trouble getting wear out of, and…
- I swapped one pair for a pair of heels to go into the donate/sell pile, so my total has only actually grown by one!
Bonus points me also for the fact that one of them is a pair I have been eBay stalking for about two years, so this was not a compulsive purchase! Anyhow, after all that justifying I should probably show you the shoes:
Those pale green Zara beauties are the ones I have been searching for for quite some time. Having already picked up a few preloved pairs of embellished Zara flats over the last couple of years – both of which fall into my most worn and loved – it was a purchase I knew I wouldn’t regret. Especially now that I’m pregnant, pretty flats are a staple for me as they always help me to feel a little more polished on the days when I can’t wear, or can’t manage, heels. I especially love the sage green colour, which works so well with a lot of my wardrobe thanks to my obsession with pastels! The other pair are admittedly a little ‘jazzy’ for everyday, but honestly, who made up the rule that you can’t wear glitter on a week day anyway (for the record I’m wearing aqua glitter heels as I write this very post…)? Plus, they only cost £3 on Vinted, and I did love them when they originally came out, sooo… The shoes that sadly bowed out to make space are one of my beloved Carvela ‘Gin’ peep toes, which have been with me for a long time. I agonised a bit too hard over letting them go as once upon a time I did genuinely love them, however I have to face facts that satin platformed peep toes are not shoes that I get much occasion to wear these days. I’ve already saved my blue ones, which were the originals, and I’m hanging onto their pink counterparts for now because they have a more interesting colour combo, but as I already have plenty of nude options and generally went with a more sensible fabric when I needed a nude pair for fear of ruining these forever, I finally decided it’s time for these to go to a new home.
With that out of the way, it’s time to get onto the saving! And I have to say it’s gone remarkably well! With the collection now totaling 182, I am very please to confirm that up until the end of June another 65 pairs have been worn, making the total saved a whopping 117, meaning I’m 26 pairs ahead of where I needed to be on average! This is great news for my collection, obviously, but I can in no way be complacent thanks to those preggo problems I mentioned earlier! There are not many ‘easy’ options left so I’m going to have to start making up occasions pretty quickly while I’m still mobile! I’m sure you absolutely CANNOT WAIT to hear aaaaaaaaall about it, but in the meantime, here are a few highlights from the last few months!
As always, you can also keep track of my journey at the following Pinterest boards:
Shoes still to save! – 65
Saved shoes! – 117/182
Love,
Picking the Day 
Cute shoes/
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Thanks for reading! x
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