Tuesday, August 17, 2010

I'm back. And wishing for Top Siders.


So I've taken a bit of a break from the blog world. Pardonnez moi. I wish I could say I took some sort of a mini Eat, Pray, Love break (and was paid for it too), but instead I've been at home trying to figure out this whole 'having a newborn and a two year old' thing. Yes that's in quotations because who knew that being a stay at home mom of more than one kid could be so tough! However let me follow that up with the fact that I feel tremendously lucky to be ABLE to stay at home with my 2 amazing children - they are only this little once!

All Mom's of two or more out there - I wish I'd said this sooner but you're all amazing! This is one tough job. I'm slowly figuring it out, and I know that once I start getting more sleep I'll feel more like myself, but for now I'm still in a bit of a zombie phase.
Every couple of nights Gemma (she's 5 weeks now) gives me 4 + hours of sleep at a time. When that happens, whoa I feel like a new woman. When it doesn't, I feel like, well, hungover.

So today I'm declaring that I'm back to my blog - and I'm not going to put any pressure on myself to do more than ONE post a week. That may be all you see for a while.

However, it's time for fall fashion, and I have been poring through my many magazines daily getting so excited for what's to come. In fact just today, my gigantic InStyle arrived in the mail. Wahoo! It's so heavy lifting it up might qualify for a workout (that's how much exercising has been going on around here, haha).

My excitement for today was actually inspired by my good friend and colleague at bop, Kristin Hanefeld. Kristin took over at the store as the buyer and store manager when I left back in February, and I miss her dearly. I think she feels the same way about me - therefore we have quite frequent text parties in which we talk about all sorts of things.......what we love on shopbop, her crazy workload, my crazy kids, and of course both of our Starbucks addictions.

So yesterday we were talking about things we LOVE right now in fashion - and she mentioned her obsession with Sperry Top Sider shoes. SO funny, because I have been thinking I need a pair myself. My husband picked up a pair of laceless Sperry sneakers in the spring, and just went back and bought another pair because he wears them so much. Here they are:

Sperry Top Sider Men's Laceless CVO, $70, you can find these by CLICKING HERE.


Since I'm a bit of a Sperry Top Sider novice, and Kristin seems to know WHAT'S UP with the Top Siders as of late, I asked her to find some of her favorites to feature on my blog. She added that she used to wear Top Siders back in the day growing up whenever they were vacationing at their cabin in the summer (she's a Wisconsin girl, people, everyone does this). I also love that she says her Grandpa Hanefeld used to rock a pair of these - and then she says, and I quote " that man had some swagger." Love!


Enough blathering.....here are Kristin's favorites for the newly re-invented brand, along with her commentary below.



Original Barrel Lace by Jeffrey, $125, find them HERE


Kristin says: "very crazy, but I am a lover of neon and I think it would be a nice way to add a little spice to some dark denim!"

Original 2-Eye Boat Shoe, $75, find them HERE

Kristin says: "very authentic, very preppy, my mom had a pair of these growing up. She had no idea just how sport and cool she was, haha!"

Bahama Boat Shoe, $54.95, find them HERE

Kristin says: "Basically I am dying to get these, how cute are they? They have preppy written ALL over them."


Cloud Logo 2-Eye Boat Shoe, $90, find them HERE

These are actually MY favorite. To second Kristin, they are SO PREPPY (which i love!), and they'll go with anything and everything.

I'm excited Top Siders are back - what do you all think of this brand making a comeback?