I’m trying to decide what to do with a pair of shoes that aren’t quite working. They fit and are comfortable, but the colour is off. I bought them thinking they’d be tan and kind of caramelly, but after a year of never wearing them I see that they’re not tan enough and make my feet look kind of green. I could sell them, except I’m not sure anyone wants this colour. So I’m thinking about attacking them with a Sharpie and making them more of an art project.

I’m not sure if I have a white Sharpie but I do have some metallic pens that would do the trick. I suppose I could just go over them with a gold metallic.

The Princess prefers the left, as the blue is too boring to his eye. I like the faux stitching, but I think my preference is for one of the first two.

I was out with the Princess this afternoon and walked passed a Claire’s – and hey wait, they do ear piercing, right? They do! I went in figuring that I would do the forward holes, since that seemed like the more important set to do, so I explained to the salesgirl what I wanted.

She was super nice, but pretty much baffled, “Isn’t that too close to your regular holes?”

Nope.

“Isn’t that up too high?”

Nope.

“There? Really?”

Yep.

Finally I had convinced her that I knew what I was doing, so she washed up and sterilized. I signed a release form, slathered on some sanitizer, and marked the spots on my ears (since she still wasn’t entirely sure what I was talking about), and then she got it.

“Oh, I see.”

Two big pinches later and,

“Wow! That’s amazing! I guess you really did know what you were doing! I want to do that too!”

I sat for a minute and my ears didn’t ache at all, so I figured, I’m already there, just do it. The girls at Claire’s weren’t sure if they were allowed to do two sets of piercings at the same time – since I think their guidelines want you to remove any other ear piercings when getting new ones done, and I obviously couldn’t take mine out yet. So a few phone calls to the head office later, and we were cleared to go. I marked the second set as well, since I wanted them a little further back than I think is normal, and another round of pinches later …

(the dark lower dot is where my regular [old] holes are)

Ta da!

I was surprised to see the salesgirl frown, “That looks amazing, but, well, how are you going to sleep?!”

Oh. Dear. Hadn’t thought about that. On my back I guess? But I don’t care!!

I love it!

My ears have ‘pockets’ that made placement for the new holes really easy and obvious, and I have quite a dangly lobe *wink wink*, so it worked.  The right further back hole aches a little bit, but I don’t even feel the other 3 holes. My only concern really is that since my ears lay pretty flat against my head, the posts might poke into my neck when I lie down. I’d really prefer my neck to remain puncture free, why else would I keep garlic bulbs on hand at all times?

That’s a really big picture of my ear. Sorry.

Claire’s is a pretty teeny bopper shop that sells things like shiny jewellery and accessories and nail polish, they’re not an actual body piercing joint, so while there is surely a name for the forward lobe piercing, I have no idea what it is. I considered going to a body piercing place since there was one relatively nearby, but Claire’s was right there, and did I mention that they sell shiny things and nail polish?

I’ve been wanting to get my ears pierced again for a long while now, though I’ve just never really bothered to do it. I would either be somewhere near a piercing place and just hadn’t remembered that I wanted to do it. Or I would be really wanting to do it and not near anywhere that did piercing that didn’t seem riddled with disease. Or I would totally forget about it for a while and not do anything.

I’ve been thinking about it again though I’m not sure where exactly I want the second set of earrings.

(Clockwise from top left) My current earring location, forward and up, back and slightly up, or both.

And then do I do the same thing for both ears? Questions questions! Also, how much is this going to hurt?

I’ve been into fashion for as long as I can remember so thinking about how my style has evolved was a lot of fun.

3 – 6:
I liked dresses with white, pink, or red polka dots. I loved Mary Jane shoes (I had pairs in brown leather, black cloth, red cloth, and red with white polka dots). I liked white ankle socks with ruffles – especially when worn with my Mary Janes. Favourite outfit: White button up short sleeve shirt (slight ruffle on the collar and sleeve if I remember correctly), tucked into a pair of pastel yellow cropped pants, brown leather Mary Jane shoes with white ruffle ankle socks, and a small red purse (which usually contained candy and stickers).

7 – 9:
Loose top/snug skirt sweater dresses. Shirts featuring pictures of fruit or other clothing items. And anything I was allowed to tie-dye. Oh – and since I didn’t have my ears pierced, I used to make big earrings out of construction paper (or candy wrappers!) and double sided tape!

9 – 11:
Slouch socks, acid wash jeans safety pinned to fit like skinnies, jean jackets.

11 – 13:
As punk as I could understand/was allowed to leave the house in. I had a pair of red jeans that I cut a handprint out of on the right butt cheek and sewed material under. They sound kind of horrifying now, but they were awesome. I had a couple pairs of jeans that I’d added a second band and belt loops to, and then would wear two belts. A lot of bracelets (all at once). Brooches! I don’t know how I figured them for punk, but they worked somehow. From the ages of about 10 onward I was desperate for a pair of 10 hole Docs, but was never allowed to have them, then by the time I could just buy them myself I didn’t want them anymore.

14 – 18:
I don’t think I wore a single skirt/dress throughout highschool. Possibly because I wore a kilt as part of my school uniform, but who knows? I also didn’t own any T-shirts, except for the ones for gym class/sports. I had a lot of green in my wardrobe, and a bunch of vintage clothing ‘borrowed’ from my parents. Now they’re called ‘boyfriend wear’ but 20 years ago they were just ‘Dad’s old clothes.’ Favourite items: my dad’s corduroy jackets, my mom’s velvet blazers, my first ever black leather motorcycle jacket, and a green hooded silk blouse.

19 – 22:
Boots! Snug, low rise, boot cut jeans. Favourite accessory: my (now long gone) ridiculously amazing abs.

23 – 26:
Lots of slim fitting above the knee dresses, solids, anything but pastels, high heels, high neck blousey halter tops, wide leg pants, skinny jeans and boot cuts, hats, a lot of leather. No – A LOT of leather. Favourite items: my black leather pencil skirts.

27 – 28:
Whatever fit! (Ulcerative colitis – I lost a LOT of weight!)

29 – 31:
This was the most boring fashion phase for me. Everything was worn to minimise any body changes that might be going on, so I’d never look too thin or too pouffed. I think I looked pretty good, but I can’t say I was actively choosing a style here. Boot cut jeans and turtleneck sweaters were heavily involved. I probably bought about half my current shoe collection during this time, some were cheapo shoes, but a lot were way not cheapo shoes – which means that during the time that I wore almost nothing, I spent the most I’ve ever spent on my wardrobe.

32 – present:
I’m kind of all over the place now it seems, I guess because my figure is stable and I can play with my clothes again without surprises. Loose dresses, snug dresses, flouncy skirts, snug skirts, skinny jeans, boot cuts, high waisted, low waisted, wide leg trousers, button up shirts and ties, silk blouses, edgy jewellery, slim fitting jackets/blazers, basic prints, I’m actually carrying bags and purses now and again, nail art. I don’t think the next phase will be anything new, more like whatever’s left once this phase gets some editing.

I picked up these 9West sandals online, and as with any online shopping experience, I accepted that they would look slightly different in person. I had hoped they would be either slightly more elegant, or slightly funkier than they seemed, of course neither proved to be accurate assumptions. They were a bit blah. They weren’t expensive, and they fit well, so a DIY was in order. I couldn’t think of anything I could do to make them more elegant, but making things bolder is always an option so…

The original shoe:

Plus neon orange nail polish:

Hooray!