So I found myself in need of some new sandals. Coming into this summer, I had two pairs of sandals, both purchased at the beginning of last summer:
Orange Clarks Spa flip flops and black Merrell Agave sandals. Both pairs are still functional, but neither thrill me. The Clarks are really bad for my feet (shoes with no support and flexible soles are plantar faciitis nightmares) and the Merrells are just kinda ugly. So, at the beginning of this summer, I hit Nordstrom Rack to look for some new sandals.

I came home with a pair of very cute 3.5 inch wedge heeled sandals in black leather from Sofft. They're great--very girly, unlike my other options, really versatile, and not too uncomfortable. Unfortunately, they also make me around 6'4". And though I'm sometimes fine with that, it's not a height I want to carry in my daily life. So I tried again.

This time, I found a coupon and searched around the online world. I ordered each of the following shoes:

Aerosoles Sun Mate, from Shoes.com, $55.20

Annie Sienna, from Zappos, $49.90

Columbia Sun Goddess, from Zappos, $34.95

Dansko Sissy, from Zappos, $110

Indigo by Clarks Abruzzo, from Zappos, $80

Indigo by Clarks Bordeaux, from Zappos, $88

I kept one pair, the Aerosoles Sun Mate. They're cute, and they were cheap. Nothing else fit, or was comfortable enough or cute enough to be worth the price. So I've been wearing the Sun Mates.

They're just as bad for my feet as the Clarks flip flops. No arch support, flexible soles. So, as summer is already winding down, I set out last night to make yet another attempt to find some reasonable sandals. This time, though, I felt less desperate, and decided to focus on cost savings, rather than just finding something that looked cute at Zappos and pushing the "Buy" button.

So I started at Zappos, because they have the best selection, descriptions, and feedback on styles. After going through many pages, I picked out the following styles:

Annie Shaw, $44.90

Chaco Switch Eco Tread, $62.10

Softwalk Torri, $94.95

The thing about Zappos is that their selection and customer service and feedback is great, but their prices sometimes aren't. So after I picked out what I wanted, I looked around for the same styles elsewhere. My first stop was 6pm.com, which is basically Zappos' clearance rack. They didn't have the Annie sandals or the Chaco flip flops, but they did have the Softwalk Torri sandals, for $66.50, and in my size! Except they only had them in white, which is not the color I wanted. So I kept looking.

Next I checked Shoes.com and Onlineshoes.com. Shoes.com had the Chacos in my size, in another color, but they were $65. Even with the 10% off coupon I found, that was only a bit cheaper than the Zappos price, and when it's that close, I'd rather go with the known quantity of Zappos customer service. Neither of the other styles were available. Onlineshoes.com had the Softwalks for the same price as Zappos, the Chacos for $64.95, and no Annie's. With another 10% off coupon, this order would have ended up a bit cheaper than Zappos, but again, when it's close, I'd rather pay for Zappos.

My last stop in comparison shopping was at Amazon.com. And that's where I hit the jackpot. The Softwalks were on sale for $47.71--half off! The Chacos were $64.99, so no savings there, but the Annie's were only $22.34--another half off! And shipping for an order over $25 was free. Now, if they don't work, I'll have to pay some return shipping, but I'll still come out ahead.

Since a lot of sandals seemed to be on sale, I kept looking around Amazon.com after I put the three pairs I'd selected in my cart. I'm glad I did, because I found another pair I loved--the gladiator sandals I'd been looking for all summer. The Indigo by Clarks Lyon, on sale for $39.76! Just to be sure, before I purchased I went back and looked for the style at Zappos, 6pm, and Shoes.com--$80; $48 and not available in my size; and not available.

The moral of the story, of course, is look around to make sure you're getting the best price--not exactly a new maxim. Also (and again, not exactly news), if you trust your taste for next year, buy sandals towards the end of the summer. Those Aerosoles I paid $55.20 for on sale in April? $50+10% off now. And clearly, if you're on the lookout for end-of-summer sandal sales, try Amazon.

"Grace? It's Suebob."

The lovely Suebob was calling to ask if I'm going to attend the annual BlogHer conference coming up in New York in a couple of weeks. I am! And I'm getting excited about it, too.

BlogHer seems to be one of those things that only makes sense to folks who are into it, if you know what I mean. For the uninitiated, it's a two-day conference focused on women and blogging. This is the 6th one (and will be my 3rd). The days are filled with panel discussions and hands-on technical classes, the evenings with keynote speakers followed up with parties. It is, as the website claims an opportunity for bloggers to enjoy "hands-on learning, rich discussions, opportunities to meet with the brands that support them and plentiful networking opportunities."

Which still doesn't really explain why I'm so into it, does it? The truth is, I'm kind of a half-assed blogger. As Suebob said on the phone to me yesterday, I'm not particularly interested in improving my blog or building my brand. I know I'm never going to blog for money, and that's fine with me, that's not why I do this. For me, blogging is about communication with folks I know (online or in the flesh) and having a reason and a platform to write. So, crass as it may sound, I'm not really there to learn anything.

The primary reason I love it is for the people I get to hang out with. This year I'm especially excited, because I'll get to room with and spend some time with my friend and Heroine Content co-blogger The Princess, who I left in Austin a year ago and haven't seen since and miss horribly. I'll also get to see the aforementioned Suebob, who is nothing but lovely and so much fun to be around, and hopefully Laurie, who I also adore and haven't seen since last year, even though we live in the same neck of the woods now. If I can spend even a moment basking in the rather glorious presence of Karen this year, as I was lucky enough to do last year, then I'll be completely happy. It goes without saying, I'd hope, that there are a ton of other folks I'm looking forward to seeing as well, or even being introduced to for the first time this year.

Beyond the specific folks I go to BlogHer to see, I also go for the general environment. Though it does get a little rah-rah girl power for my tastes at times, the fact is that there aren't a lot of times when 1,000 or so women convene on any space, take it over, make it their own, and enjoy the living hell out of it. Sure, it's less political action group and more sorority party, but at least it's *my* sorority, you know? These are, by and large, women with whom I feel really comfortable, and it's great to spend two days surrounded by them.

Another great thing about BlogHer is finding new blogs. Every year, after I return, I end up with an even more bloated feed reader, full of new blogs to read. And as time goes on, I whittle some of them off, but a few always hang on and become new favorites, and if I've met the mastermind behind them, I'm much more likely to be interested in their content. My favorite from last time around? Gotta be No Appropriate Behavior, the blog-child of Laura, who I was thrilled to get to know at BlogHer '09.

Finally, there's an atmosphere of fun and...luxury? at BlogHer that just isn't part of my daily life, and I enjoy the hell out of that. The swag is plentiful and sometimes incredible, the parties are great fun, and I get to spend three nights staying (at a VERY reduced rate) at the New York Hilton. Like I'm not gonna be into that.

SO! Are you going to be there? Drop me a comment so we can be sure to find each other!

Oh, that picture? That's me at the MamaPop party last year, with a giant cardboard Edward Cullen. Not a great picture of him, but it's cute of me, right?

The best place, by far, was a shop called Eons Fashion Antique. Among other treasures, there I found a long rack of 50s and 60s house dresses, in waist sized up to 36. Yes, that's right, 36. I never find real vintage stuff in my size (which, it turns out, is generally 18 or 20 in pre-vanity sizing)! And the dresses mostly had their original tags still on them! Amazing.

I bought three. Excessive, probably, but I couldn't help myself. They were between $22-$30 each! Less than $80 for all three, if I am remembering correctly. And last night, when Mark and I went out to The Wine Kitchen (excellent as always, though they were sadly sold out of the sea salt and caramel torta palla), I debuted one of them.

I don't think there is any question that this is the style for me--it works with all my assets and does a pretty good job of hiding my flaws. The question is, can I really dress like this every day?

For reference:

In Pittsburgh, I ate here. The dessert menu featured a "Six Penn Circus"--cotton candy, cinnamon doughnuts, whoopie pies, and Cracker Jack, all house-made. Oh hell yeah.

100 Days to a Happy Housewife has been a great project, and I really wanted to finish it out. But I'm not actually having the summer I expected to have when I started. I thought I was going to be home all summer. As it turns out, between work and play, I'm going to be gone more than I'm here over the course of the next eight weeks. Add to that a work schedule that has taken a turn for the completely insane (we're talking 70+ hours/week insanity), and I just don't see any more valuable posting happening if I have to do projects and take pictures to make it happen.

So, I'm admitting defeat. I am, perhaps unsurprisingly, a truly lousy housewife. Hopefully I've re-integrated the blogging habit enough to at least get a few posts a week up for the rest of the summer, keeping you all abreast of my travel adventures. Thanks for reading!

I actually went a bit outside my comfort zone this weekend and visited a bunch of new stores. Unfortunately, they were almost uniformly terrible, and the bulk of my great finds came, as always, from Unique. I did buy some glassware at smaller shops, though.

My favorite finds:

From Unique, a great coffee table book about Georgia O'Keefe (it includes her art and her letters, which is really fascinating) and a cool blue glass pitcher. I thought the pitcher was mid-century to begin with, but I think it's probably actually Ikea or similar. I believe both items were $4.94.

Also from Unique, a trio of graphic black-and-white print tops. The lefthand one is an empire cotton tank top from H&M, the middle is a great sort of floaty top with an asymetrical neckline from Loft, and the righthand is a basic kind of sleeveless top by I think Izod. I'm really into these sorts of prints right now. These were, I think, $3.99 each.

This trio is from two small thrift stores in Falls Church, Joseph's Closet and...something else. I absolutely love the hand blown amber glass pitcher, and I paid $12 for it, which is a lot for me. Mark says the bulb-bottomed amber glass vase looks 70s, but I don't care, because I love the shape and it was $5. The pottery vase is sadly mass-produced and not handmade, but Mark loves it, and it was only $3.

I can't resist the napkins! This set of 4 new ones was $2.99 at Unique.

My most practical find of the weekend, which I forgot to photograph, was a new in package set of four small, square white porcelain cereal bowls for $5. I've been looking for some small cereal bowls--we have only huge ones--and these are perfect.

I am still thinking of how to fill out the last half of my commitment here. I know I need to get back to the, you know, cleaning, much as I am avoiding it. I haven't done my bedroom or my office, the latter of which is a bit of an embarrassment. I haven't even attempted a daily cleaning routine. And there are some more specific projects, such a taking up the apparently lost housewifely art of the table garden, that I really want to try. Plus, I have more and more political thoughts stemming from this project, and (at the risk of major audience alienation), I need to get to those. I've also got a few book reviews I want to share with you all, and some posts for other blogs.

Which all to say I'm still here, and I haven't abandoned ship. Stick with me, there's more Happy Housewife to come.

For the first time since starting this project, I got a hint of the kind of resentment I imagine could be par for the course for women who live this lifestyle permanently. It turned out, due to a combination of Mark's work commitments, Mark's underestimation of how much work is involved in throwing a party, and my inability to say no before I got really angry, that the bulk of the pre-party preparations fell to me. I spent nearly a whole day (six plus hours) driving around, hitting a total of 8 stores (which, given how long it takes to get anywhere out here, is a lot), buying party supplies. I ran to the butcher, the hardware store, the beer and wine store, multiple grocery stores. And, by the end of the day, I was very, very angry.

It wasn't just that I felt I was being left with the majority of the preparations for a party that wasn't my idea in the first place--that was irritating, but dealable. My major resentment came from the fact that my taking charge of all of the party prep was expected. It wasn't something that was discussed or agreed upon, it fell on me by default. From what I've seen, this isn't something many women would find to be unusual. In my life, it is unusual, so I noticed, and I chafed.

In my situation, this expectation was just plain ridiculous. I may be doing this project, and I may be home all day, but I'm not a housewife. I work more than full-time. I bring home more than 50% off the bacon. Taking charge of this kind of thing is not in my contract. For me, then, this was just an oversight, a mistake. I don't expect it will happen again. But the experience brought something up that I've been thinking a lot about--how does this type of thing work for women who do take on full-time homemaker roles? Would this type of resentment be a factor? Would it be warranted?

Please weigh in. I wouldn't wish how mad I was about this on anybody--and I assume that those of you who have relationships with more separated household roles have a way to deal with this kind of thing, or else you'd hate each other. So fill me in?

The teal cami with the fancy trim is by Bamboo Traders, a company I'd never heard of before, but it's cute and long enough, so yay. The black one is a workout top from Lucy, something I can never have enough of. They were $4.99 each. The scarf has no labels on it, and I think it's poly-blend rather than silk, but I just love the pattern and color so much I had to buy it for $3.99. Look for it in a future Happy Houswife post, for sure.

How about you? Any great thrift finds this weekend?

As an adult, I am ridiculously pro-flower. I buy flowers with nearly every grocery trip. I usually don't spent much, and having them around improves my quality of life to an extent I would never have expected. So that's my Happy Housewife thought today--no matter what else you have going on, if you can swing it, buy yourself some flowers.

Mine are peonies.

Anyway, tomorrow is errand/shopping day, and I just made my list, so I thought I'd show you that.

I looked at some recipes online, and decided on recipe found in a discussion thread on Cooking Light.

• 1/2 cup raisins
• 1/4 cup bourbon
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon cloves
• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 2 large eggs
• 3/4 pound carrots -- coarsely chopped
• 1 cup pecan halves -- toasted and coarsely chopped
• 1 package cream cheese -- (8 oz.) softened
• 4 tablespoons butter or margarine -- softened
• 1 cup confectioners' sugar. sifted
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

1. Make cake: Heat oven to 350 degree F. Grease a 10-inch springform pan (or grease a 10-inch round cake pan; line bottom with wax paper; grease paper). Combine raisins and bourbon in small bowl; set aside.
2. Sift together flour, baking soda, salt, nutmeg, baking powder, cinnamon, and cloves in bowl.
3. Beat granulated sugar and oil in large mixer bowl at medium speed, until blended. Add eggs, 1 at a time, scraping side and bottom of bowl after each addition. At low speed, beat in dry ingredients just until combined. Drain raisins through sieve; discard bourbon. Add raisins, carrots, and pecans. At medium speed, beat 5 minutes more until batter is well blended. Pour into prepared pan; bake 1 hour and 15 minutes, until toothpick inserted in center of cake comes out clean.
4. Cool cake in pan on wire rack 15 minutes; remove side of pan. Cool completely. (For cake pan, run a knife around side of pan. Invert cake onto rack; remove pan and wax paper.) Transfer to serving plate.
5. Make frosting: Beat cream cheese and butter in large mixer bowl until smooth. Beat in confectioners' sugar, vanilla, and lemon juice until light and fluffy. Spread over top of cake.

Makes 12 servings. Nutritional facts per serving: calories: 610 , total fat: 36g , saturated fat: 9.5g , cholesterol: 67mg , sodium: 388mg , carbohydrate: 69g , protein: 6g

I made a few changes, based on what we had--I substituted dried blueberries for raisins, then added a tablespoon of molasses with the sugar (since many carrot cake recipes called for brown sugar, which we don't have right now) and a couple of teaspoons of vanilla. I also used baby carrots processed in the food processor, because of the lazy. I also used a square cake pan, because that's what I had handy. Finally, I didn't drain the bourbon off the berries--I just threw it all in.

Going into the oven, it looked like this. Which reminded me why I don't like carrot cake batter. Ew.

When it came out and cooled, I made the frosting as described. The lemon juice is remarkably nice in it, and it's not overly sweet, which is nice. The finished product isn't lovely--I'm not a cake decorator--but it is pretty good.

I didn't actually find anything spectacular, or spectacularly cheap, this week, but nevertheless, I will share my finds:

These three pairs of shorts are all for me. The blue ones are Adidas sports shorts, the other two are destructed Bermudas from Ann Taylor and dark wash Bermudas from Izod. I believe they were $4.99 each and they all fit! Since I'm so in love with Bermudas right now, I was happy to find them.

This dress didn't photograph well, but it's really cute on. It's by Alfani and I think it was $6.49.

This is a super cute faux wrap shirt from Ann Taylor. It's not right for this season, but I'll definitely wear it in the fall. It was $4.99.

This was my most fun find! A clearly handmade metal rooster sculpture. It's name is B.B. and it now lives among our plants.

I have no idea what my plan is for this wooden box, but it just seemed so handy. It was $1.91.

This is a set of Vera napkins. I love Vera napkins. Mark hates them, so we don't actually use them, but I keep collecting them anyway. They were $3.49 for four, and I don't think they've ever been used.

This was Mark's gift--a little kit to make three small wooden boats. He's enraptured with it. I think it was $.59 or something.

Like I said, nothing extraordinary, but a good day's thrifting. Hopefully I'll have something more interesting to share next week.

I am not going to bore you with the suggested steps to cleaning a living room, since I already went over those on Day 18. Instead, I'll just tell you what I did.

The room I started out with wasn't terribly dirty (with the exception of the cover for the couch, which was a filthy dog hair mess). It was, however, a bit cluttered and very dusty. I started with high dusting--ceilings and corners and stuff, and pulled the couch out from the window and dusted and washed the window. From there, I removed bric brac and books and dusted and cleaned all the furniture--the couch, the coffee table, the bar, two chairs, two bookshelves, and the fireplace mantle. This was pretty time consuming, just as far as taking everything down cleaning the surface, cleaning the stuff, and reorganizing it. When that was all done, Mark vacuumed the floor. I replaced the couch cover with a freshly laundered one and gave it a good spray down with my fabric refresher spray (it's Ata's favorite spot to lounge, so it doesn't smell great).

When all was cleaned, Mark and I rearranged the furniture. We try to avoid rearranging furniture as much as possible, because it's one of those things that always ends up with us arguing. We don't argue much in general, but furniture rearrangement brings out the worst in us, I guess. We have very different ideas of what is attractive and functional.

After a few missteps, we arrived at a furniture arrangement that suited us at least slightly better. (The big issue is the couch not quite fitting in the cut-out alcove in front of the window, so it sticks out into the room.) Then, of course, things had to be re-dusted and books returned to shelves and all that. The whole process ended up taking nearly two hours.

I am pretty happy with the results:

For today's adventures in cleaning, I'm wearing Smith's American denim Bermuda shorts (Marshall's), an orange and white cotton peasant top (Banana Republic Outlet), a handmade and gifted apron, and a vintage silk scarf (Ebay).