Tips & Tricks - #3
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
many of you assholes have perfect, narrow feet. I do not. I have small, very wide hobbit feet. it is not  attractive. 

there are some shoes I cannot wear as a result. some I have to order in a half size up for width (Christian Louboutin's for instance, I have to get in a 36.5, even though in Valentino, I am a 35.5....first world problems). 

but for most others, there are a few solutions if my size is just a little too snug:

  1. just wear them. they stretch out eventually if they're leather or a stretchable fabric. I typically try to break in fancy shoes by wearing them around the house in sweats while doing whatever weird shit I'm doing. 
  2. have them professionally stretched. Nordstrom does it for free when you buy any shoes, it takes two days (but they can do it in a day as well, they just won't be as stretched) and you get a semi-stretched pair of shoes when they're done. 
  3. buy one or both of the following:


liquid shoe stretch only works on leather, but it relaxes the leather and allows the shoes to mold to your feet better or something. I don't know.  it works.

 these old school puppies will also work, you just insert them and expand the front part and store your shoes like this until they stretch to where you need them to not lead you to want to amputate at the end of the day because your toes have lost all feeling. 

xo d



d at 12:39 PM | 0 comments
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Friday, January 6, 2012
for drawers, I found that the most ridiculous waste of my time was folding underwear. seriously, it pisses me off and they end up in a drawer all mashed up and I HATE rifling through a drawer to find what I want. I also hate messy drawers. the main reason being that I can't stand feeling like I lose things and I have found that the best way to not "lose" something is to just be organized. 

enter these two items. 

I use the three-section silk organizer for my bras. the bras fit width wise when stacked in each compartment, I can fit 5-6 bras in each row. and then the whole thing fits neatly into my drawer. no more messy bra drawer. if you want to get really psycho like me, you can color arrange them. I have a black row, a printed row and a white/nude row. I'm nuts, I know.  but it really does help and is inexpensive.

secondly, I use this organizer as a way to organize, ugh, I hate this word, panties. this thing basically is a set of plastic inserts that you can decrease based on the size of your drawer. instead of folding underwear (I know, some of you don't actually do that, but seriously, the big free for all drawer of underwear freaks me out), I stuff them into each space (I fit a few per square) and, again, if you want to get super nuts, I organize them by the fancy ones in the front and the, ahem, mangy pairs in the back. when I get to the back and only have the skanky pairs, it's time for my lazy ass to do some laundry.

ok enough OCD for today. 

xo d

d at 12:30 PM | 1 comments
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Thursday, January 5, 2012
As a psycho shopper/thrifter and accumulator of stuff, I have tried my very hardest to stay as organized as possible. And beyond the basics (i.e. get plastic shoe box containers for your shoes, seriously, it changes your life), I have some tips that have served me well in my charge to a more organized hoarder. 

The first thing that I do, and this is kind of stupid and obvious, but I seasonalize my closets. If it's summer and I don't need those wool coats? I dry clean them all in March or so, zip them up into a garment bag and forget about them until November rolls around and I need them. I also take one or two plastic shoe boxes and stack my flip flops in them (I can fit three pair per box on average) and put those at the very top of my closet. I do the same with the really summery sandals, espadrilles, etc. I don't need those in December, so up and away they go. 

closet-wise, I also love the two following tips:

first, get a belt/tie hanger. I got mine at TJ Maxx, but you can also get one here. I hang all of my camisoles on this by the straps. it's awesome. it saves a ton of space, you don't have to take up a drawer by folding them and they hang visibly in your closet.


the other item in my closet that helps is this baby, a belt ring. it is a very cheap thingie (seriously, $4) that I use to hang all of my belts by the buckle. I also quickly tie sashes and silk/thin scarves to this. I was so sick of banging nails into the sides of my closets to keep my belts in order. 

ok, more to come. 

xo d

d at 12:20 PM | 0 comments
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Wednesday, January 4, 2012
I hate eBay because it makes it so easy to purchase things that I REALLY don't need. Case in point...


I love eBay because these babies are now in my possession for a fraction of the retail price. Sigh. I have a problem.

d at 1:32 PM | 0 comments
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Thursday, November 17, 2011
so instead of being helpful regarding xmas gift idears, I am going to be self-serving. 

I am building my xmas list for my mom now (YES I AM 30, GET OVER IT) and so I need to find things I want. 

first on my list.

um. how adorable are these porcelain containers! for fruit and vegetables or like whatever you have in your fridge (mine consists of lemons, limes, club soda, 8 dollar white wine, two ketel one handles (don't ask) and some questionably ok to drink kombucha)

I think they're cute though. so that's enough for me to want them. you can get them (for me) here. 

xo d

d at 6:27 PM | 0 comments
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Tuesday, November 15, 2011
One should never enlist with a Nordstrom personal shopper (thanks to BFF Ashley). It is BIG trouble. The best part? She is in Seattle. I don't even have to see her or go in. I just find things I like online and email her and she finds my sizes and ships them to my work.

See? Danger.

d at 5:33 PM | 2 comments
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Monday, November 7, 2011
I was shopping with my mom a few weeks ago and in Macy's (which, sidenote, is my version of hell, I hate Macy's, everything is always jumbled around and it's crappy and no one ever helps you) I was waiting for my mother to make a damn decision about which boots she wanted and that can take hours, so I started trying on random shoes. 

And in the running shoe area, I picked up these babies and was in awe of how light they are. Then I tried them on. And holy hell. If there had been an actual salesperson that could have actually helped me instead of roaming around by the Clinique counter aimlessly, I would have purchased them on the spot. 

Now. Pay attention to what I am going to say here. 
The sole? The ENTIRE sole of this goddamn shoe? IS a thick, amazing layer of MEMORY FOAM. Like, what is that?! That shit remembers your foot! Fucking technology.

I mean, do they probably give you horrific shin splints? Yeah, probs, but they have stuff in them that is normally made for BEDS. IN YOUR SHOE. Also, part of them is made out of sweatshirt material or something.

Wow. So I'm kind of glad I didn't buy them at fucking Macy's, because the internets has taught me that they come in so many other colors. Pink! Black! Gray! and dudes, they are $70. That is like free for amazing running shoes that, again, REMEMBER YOUR FOOT. 

Ugh, just get them, jesus. Your life will be changed.

Also, they run true to size.

xo d

d at 9:59 AM | 1 comments
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