The return of a wanderer...

Johnshaven, Scotland
April 2010

Hello! It's been a long time and I have traveled maaaaany miles since I last posted here. Did you see my little video below? How are you? How have you been? Is it summer where you are? Do you have an adventure planned to celebrate the sunshine? I hope so and I hope you'll share them with us. Right now my big adventure involves algebra and techniques of supervision in an online school setting. Two more weeks until I get to wander again though and I.Can't.Wait! I'm going to try and post more often but whether or not I do is sort of part of the adventure, I think :)

Love,
 Laura

Park Life.

I've been financially frugal for years, but even more so in the last few months, so when I do spend money it hurts.

But when I spend money, that in hindsight was a complete waste, I hate myself.

I spent £45 today to stand in a park for 90 minutes and be cold.

I won't go into the details but it involves my ever money eating car.

On the happier side of things I got to spend some of Autumn in the park. I love the park. The light was nice, the air was wet but fresh, and the park was beautiful. It was a fantastic day minus the forty five pounds.

While there I did play on various child designed park toys like the swings and this elephant that rocked back and forth. The elephant looked incredibly sad for being an orange elephant and it had a terrible word (by UK standard) scratched into its forehead. I can only imagine the the elephant's tears are caused by the apathy, and ill behaviour of the children that used to be entertained by rocking but now need more thrill and excitement so vandalise public property with obscenities.

I used to go to this park with my mum, sister and next door neighbours when I was younger. I had vague memories, and I liked that I, in essence, got to say goodbye to something I would never have said goodbye to otherwise.

One... Step... At... A... Time.

Sometimes the climb is high and steep,
Sometimes we don't even know we've climbed so high,
Sometimes we have to go back down,
Sometimes it's up and sometimes it is down,
Always we should go
one...
      step...
            at...
                  a...
                      time.

Vikkers is sickers...

Dear Vikki,

I think you're great and I'm sorry you're sick. This picture from this post is one of my favourites that you've shared with us. I love the black, white and greyness of it. The depth of the moving stairs against your white Chucks and then the pattern of your trousers. The lines. I love it all.
I hope you feel better soon Sikki - see what I did there, instead of 'Vikki' I said 'Sikki' ha!
Love,
Laura x

Six.

I've heard before that through your life you will meet hundreds of people, several of them will be friends, but a lot of those friends you won't keep in contact with for the duration of your life. On average there are only 6 people that you will keep as close friends for long life-time spanning periods of time.

This is my 'Jemima Puddle Duck' with me 'Tallula Pee-pee.'

We've known each other for 8 years, and she is utterly fantastic.

No matter which city we live in, or how many months we go without communicating, we are still perfect friends whenever we are together and do get to see each other.

In our 8 years as friends we've never lived in the same city, at all.



She is my greatest idol... that is why we have matching shoes.

The Girl with A Cheery Disposition:

"I had such a wonderful time

spending a few days with my family...

I did some shopping with my mom and Nana,

Then my dad and me had movie night like we use to back in the day

(he is a sucker for chick flicks..shh don't tell him I told you)

Then we celebrated

my Great Aunt and Uncles 50Th Anniversary

I must say their gift for each over was the coolest gift ever!

They bought an old jukebox and had all their songs put in it.

Now I will be heading back home to Nashville tomorrow.

Which I am super excited about

because I just got news that guitar hero

will be flying home Thursday

for a few hours to see me!!!!!!

Yay, because 13 days is just way to long to go without him."

-Whitney

Luminated Wednesday [Vikki]

I bought this pair of chucks in LA in 2006.

This photo was taken at a bowling alley in Salt Lake in 2009.

I like that even although they are dirty, they are old, they have been to loads of places, met a lot of people, have memories litterly on them (there's hot chocolate stains from an 'accident' in a cafe) they are still luminated. They can still shine brightly. Maybe not as bright as a brand new pair, but they are trying... and I like that my shoes still try and that they are still beautiful and wonderful even although they might be a little old.

Be luminous.

Starting Her Young [ Vikki ]

I have no excuse, but I have reasons.

My feet have been very busy over the past week. Last Wednesday I was in Edinburgh visiting old flatmates. On Thursday I was at my best friend's wedding (Yes, another) where I got poo'ed on by a pidgeon. Friday I was visiting my newly born first cousin once removed (my cousin's child which who was born late on the Tuesday night), I also picked up my laptop then spent three days reinstalling all the essentials and getting all my files back to an accessable point. Today I was babysitting my niece all day, and now I am breathing... and showing you the cutest pair of feet i've seen in a very long time.


This is Amelia Julianna Verrall and she is one week and one day old, and on the first day I met her she was wearing Chuck Taylor Converse socks. Absolutley amazing.

The Blue Lily Adventure.

1 Adventure.
8 shoes.
2 pairs of vegan shoes.
1 troll under the bridge.

2 boys and 2 girls.
1 Space Needle.
4 very hot plates in 1 Mexican restaurant.
2 milkshakes, 1 rootbeer float and 1 rootbeer in 1 burger joint.

11pm being stuck on the motorway.

2 much fun.

4 friends.

The tale of The Friendship Shoes.

These shoes were meant to be the start of something specific. At least in my mind. They were bought together at the time The Gypsy Feet was born. I had visions of shared adventures and sisterhood being tied together by twin shoes (instead of Friendship bracelets) - or quadruplet shoes? It didn't quite work out that way. The shoes did motivate me to chase adventure instead of sitting about being glum due to a back injury that kept me from working and getting homesick but I was following adventure with another partner.

It was then a new pair of Friendship Shoes was adopted into the first months of The Gypsy Feet's life. Those ginormous man shoes. The shoes added a new side to him. When we first met socks and sandals were not an uncommon sight. Now he's mister flip flops, sideburns and adventure orientated...

Even though things changed pretty quickly and The Gypsy Feet didn't follow the life plan I set out for it. It's grown into something I'm proud of. It's a part of me. It motivates me to do things and to share and encourage others to be a part of life adventures. Whether or not they accept the challenge is up to them. I'm finding fulfillment in my surroundings even though I sit at the same chair every day.

I'm sitting in the same place but I'm going somewhere different.

Have an adventure this weekend. Share it with us: wandering_shoes@live.com Get involved!

Change is coming to The Gypsy Feet. I can feel it.

The apple of my cyber eye...

This picture was taken the very day I decided to create my Gypsy Feet baby.
It was taken this time last summer when I was addicted to Rocky Mountain Carmel Apples.
Yump.
Such a yummy treat.
The fact it's an apple covered in layers of carmel and chocolate and snickers and marshmallows and happiness almost makes it feel like a healthy snack... almost...

PS. We were nominated for Most Inspiring Blog on Blog Luxe! Go vote. Use the buttons on the top right hand side :)

Chucks - the bigger the better!

This has been a big growing year for me. I just finished my first year of college at Temple University in Philadelphia. I changed my major second semester and entered the Tyler School of Art, where I'm planning on getting my Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. I'm planning on obtaining my teaching certificate and someday maybe moving into art therapy. That being said, I told you that in order to explain how my submission to you came to be. In my 3D class we were given pieces of styrofoam and told to make an extension of our bodies using the foam.  For my project I created a stop motion animation and used the styrofoam to create oversized shoes that I wore all over campus to document a daily routine I follow at school.  It was a pretty fun project to carryout.  In all there were over 3000 pictures taken and countless staring, laughing, and pointing. A few random people even asked to try them on. Hope you enjoy. And I just wanted to thank you for coming up with such a creative blog. I'm always interested to see what kinds of crazy pictures will appear when I log in.

-Jimmy

*Check out Jimmy's blog and final project. You'll love it. 

Art Gallery

On the Saturday before I left Glasgow again for a few weeks, or a couple of months – i've not decided how long yet – i went to the art gallery with my mother and brother. We were talking about and comparing paintings in preparation for my brother's art exam.

There were many interesting things at the art gallery, and the best part is that it was free.



These are my feet with my mother brother while we look at butterfly specimens.

Irn Shoes.

When I was wee my friends and I used to stand on cans and wedge them on our shoes. We would then continue to play with cans on our feet and make tapping or scraping noises on the hard ground outside. This would be kept up until the can fell off when they would get too loose to grip on to our narrow feet.

I re-created this Irn Bru can shoe this evening. It was a lot harder to get the can to mold to my foot – now that my feet are wider and longer. I walked around the house with it on for twenty minutes. Amazing.



I also love Irn Bru.

Made in Scotland from Girders... Barr's Irn Bru.

Up. Down.

I know that it's April Fool's Day and I just thought that I should have done something crazy like paint my feet green and tell you I was actually a martian or something.

But I wasn't that smart.

Instead I took this shot today on my way home from work.

The escalator brings me from the lower ground train station to the ground level and essentially to work.

The escalator also brings me back down under ground to the lower train station so that I can, in fact, go home.

I could always take the real stairs. But at 8:40am and 6:12pm I don't feel much like climbing stairs.



So here's to the escalator. How it makes our lives that little bit more pleasant.

People don't save people. Shoes do.

Out of the three of us I was the only one with shoes that had laces.
It was destiny.

Straight and Narrow

Daisy,

I think of you often.

Cali-Feet-A

Like california but not.



The Happiest Place On Earth.



One Plus One Make Two.



Lego Giraffeeeee and Meeeee.



Wet feet of My Two means no shoes for him and then new shoes for him.



Pacific Ocean Wet Feet – burried in the sand tainted water.



Pacific Ocean Dry Feet