BLOGtober Fest Day 1: About fashion/decor I have nothing to add

Happy fall, y'all.  This week, I'm participating in BLOGtober Fest, a fun and delightful challenge from Arkansas Women Bloggers. We must write something each day from October 15-19.  They even give us the topics, which this working gal loves; a few decisions I don't have to make.

And our first topic is...fashion and decorating. I'm being perfectly honest; when I saw this topic, I thought...le sigh.

I'm aware that there are many, many blogs that are full of good writing about such things.  But I don't read a lot of them, and mine isn't one of them.

Here's the thing.  I'm not crafty or decorative.  My halloween/fall decor consists of a sparkly cat my dad bought me at Lowe's and a silver pumpkin candle my mom bought me two years ago.  I love this new little silver leaf knicknack my friend got me as a present last week, and the OTHER pumpkin candle another friend gave me (both pictured at left), but that's about as far as it goes.

On the fashion front, yes, I've become obsessed with boots lately (and through 10/23 you can still enter to win a pair of kick-ass boots here), but aside from wishing I was more fashionable (or at least skinny enough to wear more fashionable clothes), I don't have much to contribute to the dicussion.

And at this particular moment in time, when so much of such importance is going on in the world, I wish that we could have supportive, civilized discussion (like we do about fashion, decor and cooking) about politics, world events and social issues.

But I know that's a pipe dream.  So instead, I'll link you off to a few of my fellow bloggers who are talking about fashion and decor, with so much more skill and passion than I have.  

Approaching Joy - the lovely, sweet and talented Paige can give you all kind of fashion inspiration, and plus, she's just a really nice gal, so go check her out.

In the "not a blog" category I give you: There are about about a million boot giveaways happening via Country Outfitter right now, so check out this pinterest page or just go like Country Outfitter on facebook.

You'll also see some pins about cool fashion/refashion tips on ohbygollyblog.com.

Catalog Living - ok, this is a humor site, but it's one of my favorites because it takes pictures from catalogs and creates stories about the people who live there. Their names are Gary & Elaine.

The Inspired Room - I found this blog on a google search for "decor" - such pretty pictures.  I want to live in those pictures.

Happy fashioning and decoring.  Until tomorrow, when I will hopefully have something more interesting to say.

Blogging 'bout buddies & boots (featuring a boot giveaway!)

Buddy is a strange word.  I mostly hear guys use it to describe what we ladies would call our girlfriends.  However, buddy starts with a B, and I love alliteration, so there it is.

This past weekend, my buddy from college came to visit.  Living in here in the 479, it's safe to say most of my friends from other lives have NOT visited me.  But with Adella's visit, I've now had two of my college roommates make the trip.  Very exciting.  As usual, she fell in love with this little corner of the world, which all of us who live here already know is awesome.  We explored Fayetteville, Eureka Springs and Bentonville, we experienced 80 degree weather that changed to a freeze warning in 24 hours, we took in some art, did some shopping...and we ate.  Boy, did we eat. 

But by far the most unusual part of our visit involved boots.

Many of you know that I went to the Arkansas Women's Bloggers Unplugged (AWBU) conference back in August, and came away with a sweet new pair of Tony Lama Golden Tan Navajo boots.  I have really enjoyed learning to wear them, and lest you think I'm being silly, I mean it; you do have to learn to wear them.  In my case, I had to learn the right socks to wear, the right outfits to pair them with, and also how to get over a little bit of irrational fear of shoes that are hard to get off (yes, I know, I'm weird, and I have high arches).  I've also had to learn to walk in them: to slow down, saunter a bit, tilt the hips forward.  These are not easy things for a fashion-challenged Yankee to learn, but I've found that once I have my boots on, they contribute to a general feeling of...well...being kind of kick ass.

Anyway, as part of the conference, I got these boots, and I also get a chance to give some away!  So it seemed appropriate that, while my Yankee buddy was in town, we would go explore the boots at the Country Outfitter store in town, and preview a few of the kinds you could buy with your $150 gift card.  Little did I know that my buddy would walk away with TWO pairs of boots.  But more on that later.

First, we browsed.  And for the record, my apologies for the quality of these photos - the light in the store wasn't great for IPhone photography.

Disclaimer: The Country Outfitter store in Fayetteville has a limited selection; if you don't find the size you want on the floor the super-nice staff will order it for you. So it's best to come in without any expectations of what boots you want.

Then, we started to pull all of the size 9 boots from the shelf, and Adella went on a little trying-on binge. If you recognize the boots below, you either went to AWBU or you read my friend Jody's blog (she's also doing a boot giveaway), since they are the ones she got at the conference.  I figured it wasn't cool to have two Jody/Jodi's in town with the same boots, so I hoped Adella would buy them (they were on sale).

Next up: Tony Lama's Tan Saigets Worn Goat boots, with pink detailing.  Sturdy looking, casual, rounded toe.

Then we found the Ariat Women's Legend boots, in Distressed Brown.  These quickly rose to the top of the list for their comfort and pretty blue/green details.

After that, it was mostly trying boots on just for the sake of trying them on.  Like these bad-ass Corral Women's Distressed Black Winged Cross boots, which we felt we'd need to accessorize with a motorcycle.

Anyway, Adella wound up buying TWO fabulous pairs of boots and wearing one out of the store:

Then, of course, we had to show them off, so we walked around in downtown Fayetteville for a bit, and every few minutes, Adella would look down at her feet and giggle "I LOVE THESE!"  We discussed that we felt...well...kind of kick ass in our new boots (because I was wearing mine, of course).

It got me thinking about articles of clothing that make us feel this way.  For me, there's not many, but my boots are defintiely one.  And now we arrive at the real reason you've read this far in the post.  Your chance to win some boots to increase the feeling of being...well...kick ass.  Because let's face it; you are kick ass, but sometimes we all need a little reminder. 

Country Outfitter is giving you a chance to win a $150 gift certificate to go shopping on them!  They have men's, women's and kids boots of all styles and colors.  There are JUST TWO STEPS.

1. Click here & submit your email address to Country Outfitter (you may receive occassional emails from them).

2. Leave a comment below letting me know you submitted your email to Country Outfitter and if you'd like, tell me about a piece of clothing or accessory that makes you feel...well...kick ass.

A random winner will be selected Tuesday, October 23rd.

And finally, there are bunch of boot giveaways out there in the Arkansas women bloggers network.  If you check out this board on Pinterest, you can enter for more chances to win!

That's it!  Thanks for reading my blog, y'all.  And here's the requisite DISCLOSURE: CountryOutfitter, a retailer of Tony Lama boots, gave me these Women's Golden Tan Navajo boots to review.

I should be walking the dog..

Oh lord.  I have been the queen of procrastination tonight.  I have piles of work to do.  My dog is about to expire; she wants to go for a walk. right. now.  Now, dammit!

But I've found myself, instead, zipping around the interwebs, with about 10 tabs open in my browser, surfing Pinterest, facebook, twitter and various blogs.

This is because I attended a really interesting event this past weekend called the Arkansas Women Bloggers Unplugged Conference.

I have a lot to say about what I learned and experienced there, but I'm not ready to blog about it in full just yet.  Suffice to say there were boots (lots of them, courtesy of Country Outfitter, and they were oh-so-cute on all the gals), there was a marriage proposal (can I get an "awwwwwww") and there was the amazing Ozark Folk Center, where I dropped some significant cash (well, credit) and came back with some handmade treasures that will show the world that I have truly adopted Arkansas as my state (for now, at least). 

Anyway, I snapped a couple of photos in the craft village that I really love.  I thought I'd share them and leave it at that.  More to come on the conference and blogging inspiration, plus more info about a very special upcoming giveaway.  You do not want to miss this giveaway.

But before I go, I have to give a shout out to Beth, Julie, Stephanie and Fawn, the ladies who put the conference together purely as a labor of love - just because they wanted to.  They gave me my first taste of conference style learning that wasn't work or school related, and it was both weird and wonderful to be learning for my sake, and mine alone. They are some pretty impressive women.

Enjoy! I'm off for a late-night stroll.

I wouldn't necessarily say that sewing and honeymoon are
words that go to together, but I was entranced by this
beautiful machine in the quilting shop.

Live music at the Ozark Folk Center.

A real working printing press.  So very cool.

A Yankee gal's first cowgirl boots

Tonight, I attended the Taste of Country Festival at the Arkansas Music Pavilion with a few of my lovely coworkers.  Lest those of you who know me (and my musical tastes) begin to wonder, let me assure you that I have not lost my mind - it was for work.

We had over 7000 people there.  That's something to see, y'all.

I'd say, of those 7000 folks, 6000 of them were wearing boots.  Not boring black Nine West's like I own; these were cowboy and cowgirl boots. I have to admit I was envious (and felt more than a little frumpy).  I've never owned any cowgirl boots. Merrell hiking boots and Sorrell snow boots, sure, and I just recently convinced myself I could wear dress leather boots with skirts, but no cowgirls.  Sad face.  I mean, look how cute those gals look up there!

I'm delighted to report that this hole in my wardrobe will soon be remedied.

Next weekend I'll attend the Arkansas Women Bloggers Unplugged Conference  at the Ozark Folk Center in Mountain View, Arkansas.  Since I'm not a big-time blogger and don't have a lot of followers, I wasn't planning to go, and then, well, I confess.  The boots happened.  Now, I've managed to con a co-worker into going with me, and I will get these snazzy boots (my 2nd choice, but still cute!) courtesy of one of the awesome conference sponsors, Country Outfitter.  And here's the kicker, gals.  Not only do I get a pair of boots to spice up my non-existent country music wardrobe and Halloween costumes...I get to give away a pair on my blog after the conference!

So, since there are only a dozen or so of you who read this blog, you have a good chance of winning!  You could also be nice and help me spread the word by sharing or retweeting this entry.  Karma and all that.

Anyway, I wish I'd had these boots tonight, but never fear!  There will be more country music shows, and soon one of my lucky readers will have a new pair of boots.  I'd say that's a good night's work.