Breaking In Tight Shoes

Happy Friday!! What are you guys up to this weekend? We are going to two birthday parties and a couple museums with friends, so I broke in a new pair of shoes to wear and thought I would share my technique. I've seen similar ideas other places online - it's such a good one!

You know how when you try on a pair of shoes in your size that fit, but you just know that they'll definitely give you blisters for the first couple of wears? Shoes like that can be risky purchases, especially when you live in a walking city like NYC. 

I found these red leopard loafers at Century 21 a couple weeks ago. They fit, but they were stiff and they rubbed bad around my ankles. I still bought them though because I knew I could make them comfortable in just a couple minutes.

The basic idea is to wear a pair of really thick socks (I borrowed some from Michael) and then just heat up the shoes with a blow dryer for a couple of minutes. I always get the best results if I'm standing in the shoes while heating them up.

Then let the shoes cool down with the socks still on. After just a couple minutes of heating and cooling, the formally tight shoes will fit like a glove. Promise! Works every time. :)

Happy weekend, friends! Hope it's a good one, full of formerly-tight-now-comfortable, pretty shoes. :) xo

Give Away: $250 to Lamps.com!

Lamps.com has such an impressive inventory! I mean, hello! I took just about everything in me to edit this round up to only 32 picks! :) I want it all! Lucky for you, Lamps.com is offering up a $250 gift certificate for this week's give away. Here are (a little more than a few of) my favorites from their site:

1  //  2  //  3  //  4  //  5  //  6  //  7

8  //  9  //  10  //  11  //  12  //  13  //  14  //  15  //  16

17  //  18  //  19  //  20  //  21  //  22  //  23  //  24

25  //  26  //  27  //  28  //  29  //  30  //  31  //  32

To enter to win the $250 gift certificate, please visit the site and leave a comment on this post with a link to the lamp or fixture you'd most like to have for yourself. Warning: narrowing down the choices will prove to be harder than you might think! :)

Contest open to US readers only and ends Sunday May 19 at midnight. Good luck!!

Book Club: Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Auction Book

A couple years ago I found a pretty beat up copy of the Sotheby's Auction catalogue from Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis' estate at the flea market.

I wouldn't say that I'm more interested in Jackie than the next person (other than her work with Sister Parish on the White House reno - I have another vintage book on that topic and it's fascinating. I'll be sure to share later.). But this catalogue is really something else. It's almost like reading a blog by Jackie. Most of the items for sale included photos of her wearing or using the item and usually a short, interesting personal story about the piece.

It's not the same thing at all, obviously, but it made me glad for a second that I've kept going with this little blog here for my family's sake. I'm no good at keeping a personal journal, but maybe my kids will be interested in reading these posts when they're older. And in the off-chance that I've kept any of my furniture/clothes/jewelry that long, that they would have a little provenance and family history that make my trinkets a little more personal and meaningful. (And now I'm thinking it's time to curb a lot of the F21/H&M purchases. Cost-per-wear, baby. Cost per wear.) :)

(My favorite page in the catalogue - a painting of Jacqueline and her sister Lee in India. Those trees! The watercolor sold was one of the original paintings used in the book Mrs. Kennedy Goes Abroad)

PS Don't you ever wonder if blogs as they exist now will still be going strong in, like, ten years? Or are blogs the 8 track of social media? :)

DIY Modern Brass Chandelier

SO many of you guys were excited about the DIY brass chandelier that the OKL team shared in this kitchen. Well, lucky for us, they've put together a full tutorial here to share with LGN readers (there's also a post here on the OKL blog, which is full of great content!). Let's jump right in to Megan Pflug's tutorial: