Falling for Marina

Enter Marina, the very nice ankle boot from Peter Kaiser I found in the sales two days ago. I feel I am in love already.

I have been desperately looking for good shoes this winter, with little success till now. Most boots so fashionable at the moment are too long for me, and also the style is not according to my taste. Or, the shoes I spot have been a bit too expensive, my budget being as 'low' currently as allowing for max 200€ only, which excludes most lovelies from little shoe shops from within my reach unfortunately. I feel this is a lot to pay for boots, and I must say the prices have gone up considerably since we started using the Euro. I cannot imagine before not getting any kind of boots for under 1000 Fmk (~150 €) as is now the case. But now the sales have changed all that, even if I still didn't go to too many little boutiques but to the big department stores only.

Which I regret, since even though I prefer the anonymity in shopping that these big stores allow for, the selections of the little boutiques would be more according to my taste. I do need to find the perfect girlfriend or two for shopping! One needs an accompanying friend to go to these little shops, to lure the sales personnel away, since they rarely are of any use, not knowing either my taste nor wallet. Perhaps I can allure Ekaterina to start shopping with me..? She is so beautiful, and her taste is somewhat similar to mine. Small wonder, then that I am often taken to be Russian, I've been told this many times - and I am proud of it, for Russian women can truly be quite elegant and beautiful. I think I'll complete the impression by trying to take up the language again this spring.

These shoes were long overdue - I didn't have any such black stiefeletten, only brown ones. These will go beautifully with all black trousers and jeans that I have, maybe even with skirts.

Currently, I am at home with a flu - again. I developed a temperature last night, and I am so disappointed in it all, mainly for two reasons. 1) It is not too long ago that I was sick for two whole weeks the last time, I think three weeks ago or so; and 2) I cannot go anywhere wearing my new boots! Poor me!

Is this Christmas

...or not, it must be, for now I finally have these beauties, in black!

The sales have started, in other words, and I have been rummaging the city! I am sooo happy!

I bought this and that, including some morning robes in silk and a pair of ankle boots, make-up stuff, and so on and so on. It has been quite rewarding, to say the least.

I am now at home, and finally dared to take the boots off my feet after two hours ;) My cat was wondering. For her, the most intriguing thing about my new shoes is, apart from my excitement which she easily can sense, the smell of new leather, which she loves. She is a true kitten for sure!

I am currently watching this and that on tv, waiting to be picked up for my tennis lesson. There is a show on about Hollywood's beauty secrets. Because of this, and also because of a book I'm currently reading - a very entertaining "Two Lipsticks and a Lover - a Year in Suspenders" by Helena Frith Powell, a former model turned into mother of five living in Southern France - I have come to realise that I, too, have some "beauty secrets" I can't do without. These include: Dior moisturizing concealer; Dior hand cream; Dior facial creams; Stendhal eye cream; Chanel lipsticks, one for day and one for night; Guerlain creampowder eye shadows and blush; YSL light pen; Dior loose powder; Chanel nail polish at least in 5 different colours; YSL lipliner No 8, Versace lipstick in red. Hmm, I think that's it. And of course the various perfumes I'm used to, such as Chanel Allure, YSL Opium, Dior Poison, Kenzo Flower, Lancôme Ô, and Guerlain Chamade. New additions include Sonia Rykiel and Chanel Chance (a lovely gift with a meaning) as well as reacquinting with Estée Lauder's Beautiful (a gift; originally bought to me by my parents from their trip to N.Y.).

Yes, I think that's all

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ps. Now here is a record I'd like to find somewhere - I discovered this 70-something piece playing at the Chantal Thomass website and immediately fell for its strangeness