Dear Fabbers

Logging in from my dat’s home to say HI. We still don't know whether our own house finally got the internet connection, because we had to travel on our holiday and leave it to the good will of the technician to arrange it with our neighbour, but I'll worry about that in a couple weeks when we go back.

For now, I wanted to share my best summer buy and thank everyone who was raving about how comfortable Birks are, especially Astrid and amiable. I often said here that I wore Birkenstock style footwear as house shoes only and personally never considered them seriously as a style for myself. Well, I'm happy to report I'm eating my own words because I have found my perfect Birks

  • Part 1 :: Or, How I too Fell for the Birkenstocks

Sometimes mid July I spotted these beauties with the corner of my eye, sitting lonely at the shelf in the department store where the summer footwear was already pushed aside to make room for the Autumn styles. As accidental as it was (I was actually taking a shortcut through the shoes department) this find proves to me that when the time is right - the right things will come our way. Which is something I *still* need to remind myself of again and again.

Back to the shoes - I saw them and thought “I don’t really like the idea of Birks for myself and I definitely don’t wear thongs”, BUT I also never saw red Birks before. I tried them on only because they were red, patent red Btw, they even have the red soles. Well, the moment I slipped them on, my feet sang happy song and the longer I was looking at them, the more I was smitten. This very style works so much better to my eye than the most popular two-straps one I associated Birks with and the gorgeous red patent leather elevated them to the right level of dressy casual. Last but not least, I am thoroughly impressed with the quality.

I wore them every single day since then. That says it all.

I know they will make all future (shoe) shopping even more difficult, which is excellent news. They represent a great leap towards happier, more coherent wardrobe overall.

  • Part 2 :: Epiphanies in the Making, What I Did Not Buy and Loving Madly What I Have Bought

The happiness factor with the Birks on all levels, as well as the move and unpacking I've been busy with before the holiday and which will continue after we return have, all given me priceless further guidelines where I want to steer my wardrobe and (life)style. I'll hopefully return to the subject later and muse more about it, I believe I figured out several things - why I was overbuying, the importance of the right basics pieces, why less is more for me, amongst other things. But, for now, as a result of the current style shifts, aspirations and focus, I'm happy to report I’ve resisted a truly fabulous buttery soft, woollen navy coat I found a few days ago, because I had figured out navy in fact does not work for me, or with the rest of my existing -- nor the vision of my future -- wardrobe. Pretty casual coat is high on my need list, but not any coat and I decided to wait for the right thing. The coat is in photo 2, which is also the full length photo featuring my red Birks.

In other news, if you remember my dilemma about buying what seemed at the time as pricey second hand linen shirt, I'm happy to report it was another ultra-smart buy and I wore it a lot. I still do, as I'm staying in a hot part of the world and linen is the smartest clothing choice for the climate. You can see it partially in the last photo where I'm holding my beautiful niece.

Thanks for reading, I hope everyone is doing well and feeling fab - I DO know you look fab

Off to check some recent threads. I hope to resume more regular activity soon, I miss you all.