The Other Brand Shoes

All my life, I have searched for the Jimmy Choo. The one  shoe that fits perfectly, amazingly, and is all I have ever wanted in my life. I have ignored all other brands of shoes just for this Jimmy Choo.

Kind of like locking myself into a certain criteria of people I am willing to date and be with, and not even considering the other types of people that I may potentially come across. By criteria, I mean race, religion, ethnicity, values, traditions, education, family, friends, and the list could just go on and on. My Jimmy Choo has always been one that was the same race, religion, values, traditions, family, and educational background as myself. For my Jimmy Choo, I forsaked all other brands of shoes. However, is this right?

While I myself don’t know the answer to that question, I do however know that there are many things any one of us should consider before deciding. What is worth fighting for in the end? Sure love is important, and in fact essential to relationships. But we cannot naively assume anymore that it is everything. Therefore what are you willing to compromise for the sake of love? Religion? Race? Values? The other brand of shoes can promise many aspects of your Jimmy Choo, but the items that it doesn’t offer, is that compromisable for the sake of love? Essentially, when considering the other brands, make sure the differences are worth fighting for, and will not wear your love out.

At the end of the day, you just never know, perhaps that other brand of shoes could be better than every Jimmy Choo you have ever dreamed of. Just know what you’re willing to compromise. J

The TOMS Shoes: Walking the path of appreciation, kindness, and generosity

Communication is key. In today’s world of hustle and bustle, we are grateful for the tools that allow us to communicate. Texting, chatting, face-timing, iMessaging, BBM-ing, emailing, facebook and more have all become key cornerstones of our daily lives, allowing us to communicate with those we love, like, and even hate.

With the easy accessibility and variety of choices we have to communicate, are we truly appreciating those we communicate with or the technology that becomes the bridge?

The TOMS shoes remind us to walk on the path of appreciation, kindness, and generosity. During the hustle and bustle of life and this holiday season, we need to take it upon ourselves to ensure we are embodying all that the TOMS represent. We as girlfriends, boyfriends, spouses, lovers, friends, daughters, sons, mothers, fathers, aunts, uncles, etc, need to take it upon ourselves to appreciate those around us. To spread the cheer, to create the domino affect that encourages more people to walk on the path of appreciation, kindness, and generosity. Thank those in your life, appreciate the ones you’ve taken for granted, and be generous with your time and relationships.

The TOMS remind us, our simple act of kindness, can impact the life of someone else tremendously. So lets take this as a reminder, lets use the many tools that we appreciate for bridging our communication, as tools to express our appreciation, kindness, and generosity.

This holiday season, let’s hustle and bustle in our best TOMS.

The New Mainstream Shoes

In a world where online dating has taken us by storm, there are those of us out there that are trying to resist the urge to suddenly don the mainstream shoes.

With entire world working together to make it easier to meet people, to make the world a smaller place, and making it easier to connect, are we really making a better connection? Are we really making it easier to find our soul mates… or is it just becoming a bigger and bigger pile to go through before we find our soul mate?

This new mainstream world is kind of like the chuck shoes. There was a point in time where every person you met had a pair of these really cute looking all-star shoes in all different colors. Unfortunately no one ever discussed the blisters, cuts, and uncomfortableness we all had to go through to break into these shoes. For the desire to become mainstream, we all donned these shoes, and ignored all the blisters, cuts, and pain we had to go through to wear them. Kind of like online dating, has the cost of finding our soul mate become so high, that the price we pay along the way has become worth it?

Whether you decide to mainstream or not, bottom line is, the search, the process, the blisters and pain, perhaps bring us one step closer to finding the person we are looking for. So to deal with the blisters and cuts, lets make sure we have our bandages on to prevent the cuts and scars, and always keep in mind that the decision to mainstream or not has a greater purpose behind it all. Sole-ful living :)

The Wedding Shoes

Summertime brings about one of our favorites seasons, Wedding Season! Whether we are single, married, looking, committed, or what have you, we all secretly in our heart of hearts love weddings! From dream shoes to dream man/woman, we have all thought about that big day and dreamed of it to be better than anything. So how do you really even know whether you are getting married to the right person for you or not?

Here is a tip, if you are walking down that aisle or waiting at the altar and suddenly while you are SUPPOSED to be thinking of how lucky you are to be marrying the person of your dreams, you have this thought, “I am making the biggest mistake of my life” or “shoot, I don’t know if I am marrying the right person…” and even if this thought is for the briefest instant, a good majority of people that have divorced, said they had this thought when they walked down the aisle or waited at the altar. I don’t know what percentage; it was some large 80% type statistic, but bottom line, if you have that thought as you are JUST about to get married… Do what you have to do, but realize that the signs leading up to point were all there.

Here are some tips to tell whether you are marrying the right person or not… Does this person understand you? How well do they understand you? How often and how much do you fight? Are you guys public in your fights? Does the world know about how many problems you have? Perhaps its not even the problems you need to watch for, because really what couple doesn’t face problems? Perhaps you just need a good look at yourself and ask yourself is this the one person I want to be with for the rest of my and be there for, for the rest of my life? Most important of all, listen to your gut instincts, we routinely ignore what our insides are screaming at us until we have no choice to listen, by then its too late. So listen to your gut before it’s too late. If it doesn’t feel right, it probably isn’t right.

Don’t forget, marriage isn’t simply a day, you may wear your wedding shoes physically on that one day, but don’t forget, those are the shoes you walk in for life.

The Nude Shoe

In today's fashion generation nude is the new color. It can be spiced up, sexied up, or casual-ed down. Nude makes a fashion statement and played right can take you from casual to special.

Nude goes with all things, and works in all areas... except if we are talking nudity. Nudity is good in only one place... the bedroom. Here is the thing, today the one thing that catches our eye about people we consider for relationships is how much sex appeal do they have. How much skin is this girl showing? How saggy are the guys pants? Is he wearing them too tight or sagging them too much? Is the girl's dress low enough or short enough? To the point where we dress to exacerbate our best bodily features but play down our best inner features.

We forget that there is a charm in coverage and a charm in people that don't need to spruce up their sex appeal just to get attention. Nudity is not the only way to attract attention. In fact the only attention it attracts is the lets get nude together kind. Not the let's get to know each other kind that leads to relationships. Not the kind that puts your personality and kindness on display.

Nude is nude, and absolutely fashionable and great for style. Nudity however is not. Classy relationships have charms in things that are covered and not on display.

classy ^^

trashy ^^

Mismatched Pairs of Shoes

Have you ever found yourself so stressed out in the morning, getting ready for work, not realizing that you put on two different pairs of shoes?

Happens to the best of us. Except now we have the dilemma…which shoe were you trying to wear in the first place? Now your outfit is sending mixed messages to you, to the world, and no one has any clue what fashion trend or style you were trying to pull off.

Just the same, mixed messages in a relationship, or in dating, or when just starting to talk to someone, is never a good sign. We’ve all been there, done that. Maybe even sent a few mixed messages ourselves. If you are trying to figure out if someone likes you or not and keeping needing to justify or clarify what is or what could be, and don’t have a concrete answer… mixed message. If you are trying to figure out if your partner is cheating and suddenly find yourself making excuses for suspicious behavior… mixed messages.

So what to do with all these mixed messages and mismatched shoes? Drop it like it’s hot. You don’t need someone in your life that can’t clearly articulate they want you in their life. You don’t need to deal with someone that is unsure of what they want when you are sure of what you want. Change the shoes, change the outfit, and change the style.

And always remember don’t make someone your priority, when you’re only an option.

Shoes, So to Speak?

Online dating has taken our world by storm these days. The very soles of the relationships that we are seeking today start off at the heels of the technological world. Gone are the days of in person connections and love letter writings. Today, its all about emails, texts, online dating, and other social networks that have brought the world together and made it smaller and larger all at the same time.

So imagine this, you’re out on the prowl one night, and you’ve got your best shoes on and your hottest outfit on. You’re single, ready to mingle, and the world better watch out because you’re out to win. You bump into the perfect someone, 10 on 10, amazing, dressed to match your every style. Then you look down, and notice the laces of their shoes undone or the straps of their heels unbuckled. Automatic illusion shattering. The individual could trip and fall and no longer are they classy and put together.

In the same manner, online dating and networking, someone can have an amazing profile, an amazing picture, and could be the 10 on 10… except when you message them and suddenly they talk in slang. If you are spending more time deciphering the slang that they are talking to you in than processing what they are actually trying to say, you’re going to loose interest fast. Talking in slang breaks the illusion of the 10 on 10, and gives off the shoes unbuckled and too careless to lace. It gives off the vibe that someone will be too careless with you as well. As casual as they are in the language they talk to you in, is how casual they will be in your relationship. Using proper grammar and full sentences show that you are taking the time and effort to get to know someone, you want them to know and understand what you are saying without needing to decipher. You want them to process you and not your language.

Shoes, so to speak, can say a lot about a person. So can your language, so to speak ;)