Shoes shoes everywhere

For those of you who offered their input on the bridal shoes: thanks! I ended up ordering two pairs from shoebuy.com, rather than zappos.com, as the prices were cheaper and they have free returns and no tax and free golden ponies with each purchase. One more pair I ordered from Nordstrom who ordered me a pair from a store in Georgia when they didn't have the size and color I needed online. We love Nordstrom! I know this is endlessly fascinating for you all (especially my five straight guy readers, I'm sure. Hi Brion, Dave, J...Jonas?...uh, well maybe four) but here are the shoes in all their competing glory:

In this corner, we have the Tammy Pump, flying in all the way from Atlanta:

Very comfy, in spite of the 4(!)-inch heel (I'm not a tall girl) . The champagne color may be too champagney for my dress.

And in this corner, as suggested by Ahe, is Camille:

A little lower heel, and the sparkles are really eye-catching in a non-weird way. Not sure how the gold coloring in the shiny part will go with the dress.

Last but not least, we have Ettora:

Without seeing them next to the dress, I think this may be my favorite so far. Again with the 4-inch heel, but seemingly not ridiculous for some reason. I'm testing them out at Krista's tomorrow evening in a battle of the powder sand vs. champagne satin. Who needs reality television?

J and I spent Saturday lounging by a lake near Poughkeepsie. It was beyond lovely. Living in the city, I don't get to do many traditionally summery things anymore. Especially this year, when we've been saving our vacation time, we just haven't gotten any chances to get out there and swim or picnic or walk barefoot anywhere. The lake was very clean and just the right temperature. We played with my baby cousins and, for the first time all summer, really enjoyed the sun. Turns out that's easy to do when you're in a body of water. Who knew? Afterwards, it was back to my aunt's house for more food and birthday cake. The white cake I made turned out to be cupcakes, which were pretty good. The icing was horrendous, though. I tried a fancy cooking-the-frosting method that looked okay the night before, but had separated into little butter clumps by the next day. The icing actually tasted fine, but looked like clotted cream, which infuriated me. Everyone was really nice about it. Luckily they had delicious chocolate cake, made by my aunt, and fancy tea to distract them.

This tea? Fanciest thing I've ever seen.

The tea is in little silk pyramids and can sit in the middle of your mug, like so:

Gorgeous! If anyone feels inclined to buy me lots of this tea, I will throw a fancy tea party and you can come.

Sunday was spent wallowing in the misery that is New York when it is 100-degrees out and about to rain but not yet. We sat in the bedroom for awhile with the air conditioner blasting, eating ice cream on the bed. Eventually we got it together enough to make it to a movie (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory: eh) and enjoy frigid frigid central air: bliss.

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