A year of adventuring:

January: Vikki shared her hobby with us, I went on my honeymoon 5 years after getting married and introduced you to various family members

February: Cjane introduced a lot of you to us and then you became gypsies. Liam showed us Fiji and shared a secret, Megan and I had a tea party and she shared some wisdom, Vikki played in the snow

March: Blue Lily was our guest and we started our photography challenges. Megan started her photo tributes and introduced us to loved ones, life was changing for me

April: Naomi of The Rockstar Diaries was our guest and I explained how The Gypsy Feet isn't about foot fetishes but adventures and my little sister shared a picture of her baby with 6 toes on one foot, Megan reminded us to believe and Vikki revisted her childhood

May: Xenia of Lime Crime makeup and Doe Deere Blogazine was our special guest. Megan shared her summer play list and Vikki went to an art gallery. I introduced you to my mum and we cheered someone up. We also had a foot hater share some thoughts.

June: Jasmine of Experiment in Poverty was a guest, Megan showed us how fun mum's can be, Liam showed us where he works and Brooke of Conversations with a Cupcake gave us a recipe

July: We were fascinated by the wagon masters boots, I had a Blue Lily adventure in Seattle, Vikki had computer trouble AND got engaged, J.Peri gave us some advice (and became one of my favourite bloggers), Megan enjoyed the journey

August: Things started getting quiet around here. Lindsay of Penguin Stand Alone showed us her skillz, I had the greatest road trip of my life during a very difficult summer, we met a princess and her guitar hero, Vikki made us drool and also taught us a lesson as did Katherine, Leigh and Sarah Nicole

September: Things got quieter still... Vikki went climbing (and might have inspired a Miley Cyrus song?) and got sick, I moved state, Megan and Vikki both inspired us, Lissa shared her love story

October: I met Lindsay of Penguin Stands Alone in person and now we're BFF's, Vikki introduced us to her DNA and went people watching, Carla showed us how she scoots, my big brother took us on a tour of our hometown

November: Gussy and Dionne were our special guests, Vikki reminded us to remember, I celebrated sisterhood and a birthday

December: Gussy came back and did a giveaway, my big brother and his girl friend visited me for Christmas, Vikki had a white Christmas, Rachel showed us some beauty, Megan told us a secret, we met a beard called Marcus.

What a great year. Thank you all for being a part of our journey. Keep an eye on us in 2010, there's going to be lots happening.

Here's to 2010 and fresh adventures!

We want to see all your adventures.
Send us your pictures and stories to:
wandering_shoes@live.com

DNA Feet

I share DNA with these feet.

I like walking with them because I can 100% be myself with no pressure, or no judgements.

It's so freeing, and kind of what being a gyspy is all about: exploring things with no preconceptions or forced rules. It's all about being you and doing what you want to do and going where you want to go and exploring and adventuring with whomever will help you be free to be who you really are.

Apple feet.

Most of my hours these days are consumed with working/playing/socialising/living/breathing/dancing for Apple.

Yes, I am now one of the electric blue t-shirted people that greet you with a smile and ask how you're doing, if you have any questions or need any help with choosing your new iPod, iMac, or MacBook.

It is actually (after the hard core training and settling in period) the best job I've ever had. The hours are amazing, the people are incredible and the work is far from boring, depressing, or monotonous. It is amazing.

The entire structure and business ethic of working there makes happiness.

And they gave me business cards that my feet (a tedious link) are modelling.

This is what occupies my days, and it is, in fact, part of 'the day in the life of...' ... me.

I have a hobby...

I have many hobbies that could be deemed as strange. This one combines my political beliefs and photographing strangers.

I like to go to peace protest, and anti-war demonstrations, and nuclear disarmament marches... pretty much anything that combines home made signs, typography, a lot of interesting looking people from different wakes/genres/classes of society and passion for a cause.



The thing is, a lot of the time I have to go it a lone to these protest, and the best way to have the courage to do something on your own with a large group of people involved is to hide behind a camera.

I love these gypsy feet because I strongly believe that children brought up with values, passion and beliefs for something — for anything — and those that see their parents act and not just talk about them will grow up curious enough to develop their own well researched and strongly based passions, beliefs and opinions and act upon them also.

And passion for something outwith the material, fickle, consumerist, disposable realm, without a doubt, shapes character like nothing else can.

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.

Questions and Answers

This evening was spectacular. What I thought was going to be an hour to an hour-and-a-half of slight boredom turned into 2.5hours of pure uplifting enjoyment.

I went to a talk by one of the high up religious leaders of my religion. It's quite a rare occurrence, and he lives in the USA. But he was visiting Scotland and he conducted a Questions and Answers session for 2 hours rather than talk at everyone in Scotland that wanted to attend.

The final gist of this Q&A session was an object lesson about not always looking for answers from specific people and always looking and researching the answer yourself.

It made me realise that quite often we do that in life, we always look for other people to answer our questions of what do I do now? How should I behave when I reach this age? or am I doing this right... is this normal?

But sometimes we already know the answer and we just have to do what we think is best for us and those that we love.

Before the main guy started speaking he had three other people give brief introduction talks and the first lady, who was from Portugal, challenged us all 'To be an answer to someone.' My interpretation of that is pretty much to look for opportunities to assist other people and be the help that they very well might be shouting out for.

Once everyone had left I stood on the stand in the very location that the main speaker had been standing. The image might not be very visually pleasing, but walking on the same ground as something that confident, and important is incredibly symbolic in itself.

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

Furry Gypsy.

This is an ode to a future Gypsy. As of just now she's not been many places, she doesn't like leaving the house actually. She was born in another house, and spent a week in another house, but at the age of four years and seven weeks and six days she is pretty awesome thing to be around.

This is Zero the ghost cat, and she keeps my feet warm at night. She also scratches my feet at night because she thinks they are toys. She chases my feet and jumps on them and wraps her paws around my leg whenever I walk to or from the bathroom — she likes to get her pounce on.

I've spent a long and boring day selling things on ebay, and she has kept me company most of the day. The selling comes as phase one of my immigration, a process that will involve her.

My dear kitten will officially be a gypsy in a few months.

Sands of Time.... [ Vikki ]

My feet have wandered in this picture, but wherever they are they will be returning to the same coastal region.

I bought these flip flops in Switzerland.

This picture is Pacific Beach.

I have a sandy adventure in my future and it's exciting.

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.

Computer Trouble Wednesday. [ Vikki ]

I've had computer trouble since Friday last week.

The apple mac, 17inch mac daddy, that is my fifth appendage has been out of service since around that time too.

I'm currently on an old PC, sharing my patient electronic geek feet with you.



The laptop is currently hooked up as another drive to my old G4 tower mac (which I was meant to sell to someone last week - thank goodness I didn't) which is running a data recovery programme in an attempt to get my design work, photographs, and everything else I ever added to that laptop in the past year.

This is day three of active attempts and I'm hopeful that by tomorrow morning all will be well. We'll see though.

Hopefully next wednesday will be a little more picturesque and entertaining.

My advice... backup. Everyone says it. No one does it until something file-tragic happens to them.

The Naked Feet Part Two. [Vikki]

Two weeks ago today I posted my introduction blog that showed my naked feet and gave you the naked truth.

Little did I know that mere hours after that post I would have to change number six which read:

6. I have a fantastic boyfriend who sadly lives in Salt Lake, or soon to be California... and long distance is terrible.

to

6. I have a fantastic fiance who sadly lives in Salt Lake, or soon to be California... and long distance is terrible.



That's right... on the 1st of July my American boy asked me to marry him via the most creative amazing proposal ever. He'd actually been planning and making it for over 3.5 months.

He constructed and made super grover and elmo, and then made a movie trailer featuring him in it. He set up the entire night to revolve around watching this movie, and proposed in reality after staging a performance that involved the TV and left me confused about what reality and fantasy are.

I, of course, said yes, and wear my Lego ring with pride. He insists that it's only temporary but I honestly love my lego ring so much.

Sorry to keep you all waiting a week to find out, I had to tell my Mother – to her face – first. I've still not told everyone though, but it's soon going to be hard to keep it in the bag.

The sad end of the tale is that a mere 4 days after getting engaged I left him for an unknown amount of time. Terrible. But it's easier knowing that, with time, I will be with him forever.

The Naked Truth and Feet of Vikki Miller.

Some call me Queen of the World (usually just me), some call me Vizzle M. (usually just me), some call me KK (just me), some call me Grrr Arg (just me), others just call me Vikki (everyone else, except me).

1. I'm a designer.

2. I'm a girl.

3. I'm a Glaswegian (from Glasgow, Scotland).

4. I travel.

5. I love my cat Zero.

6. I have a fantastic boyfriend who sadly lives in Salt Lake, or soon to be California... and long distance is terrible.

7. I have a younger brother, and older sister, one niece, a cousin who is close to me and about to drop another 'cousin', a mother who is Irish that loves potatoes and says things down the phone like 'Oh the Holy Ghost.'

8. I have some mega amazing girls in my life.

9. I have a bachelors with honours degree and a masters degree.

10. I love photography.

11. I love art.

12. I love design.

13. I love blogging. About life and design.

14. I have a pretty exceptionally blessed life.

15. I love to cook and bake.

16. I love to stencil.

17. I love to drink hot chocolate on a Saturday night in Starbucks.

18. I love to drink hot chocolate on any night.

19. I love herbal teas.

20. I love pasta with grated cheese.

21. I love Buffy the Vampire slayer.

22. I love vampire stories in general.

23. I love heroes, lost, ugly Betty, the oc, the green wing, pushing daisies.

24. My childhood movies are stand by me, the goonies, empire of the sun, watership down, cocktail (all tom cruise movies actually), and everything else amazingly 80s.

25. I've been to Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Austria, Liechtenstein, France, Switzerland, Belgium, Italy, Ireland, England, New York city, New York State, Philadelphia, Utah, Las Vegas, California, Canada (Niagara Falls), Mexico (Tijuana).

26. My long term goals are to make people happy and change the world.

27. I often like to believe that I am, in fact, a superhero.

28. I am Vikki Miller and I am a Gypsy... particularly on Wednesdays.

And that is the naked truth about me.

And these are my naked feet... on shaving day... which is today, because I'm in Utah, and it's hot outside and that means shorts weather.

Want S'more Love.

My Gypsy feet currently have me five thousand miles from home.

I came for my best friend's wedding, and stayed because happily my boy love is here too.

He assissted in making me my first smore, and after being filled with chocolate and marshamallows, which didn't happen until well after we had lit the fire in the rain with borrowed wood and matches and paper from a neighbouring campfire.

We also got in lots of cuddle time next to the fire.

Wedding Wishes.

We met when were both in our early teens. We lived in opposite ends of the city, and there was no way we would have met if it wasn't for pure, divine interverntion.

There are some people in life you are meant to meet. Some of them stay for a while then leave, some of them come and go quicker than the post man. Others are for life.

I remember seeing a tv advert that said out of all the people you will meet and befriend in your life, there is an average of six people that you will keep with you forever.

I definitely know that she is one.

And I definitely know that we talk about getting married, and growing old, and being aunts to each other's children, and taking holidays together, and living next door to one another before we're 70 and developing dementia together and going to the same old persons' home together and talking only about and reliving the days when we were 15.

Age caught us. Life changes. Progression starts. And although we might start walking different paths, our paths will still be close together.






My best friend's Wedding. 22nd May 2009. Salt Lake City, Temple Square.


P.S. yes... I'm back in utah again... for that wedding and with my love. Oh yes. AND... I caught the bouquette. Granted, I was the only girl on the street, and she threw it to me... but the wishes and the tradition came with it. Oh yes.

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.

Follow the golden stripe road.

Almost two years ago I finished my masters degree. A couple of months before that I was a bridesmaid for my cousin. She's been more like a sister than a cousin and I've always said that not many people have known their best friend for their entire life.

There's not one second of my life that the cousin of mine hasn't been alive for and that I've not known her during.

Instead of giving us jewellery that we would never wear, our bridesmaid gifts were personal to us. I received these golden shoes. GOLDEN STRIPPED SHOES.

Weeks later, I was overwhelmed with the summer events – the stress, the busy-ness, the impending future – and I went to a graveyard that I had previously found in a park behind my house in Dundee.

On top of a really steep hill hidden under the trees I sat in a spot of sunlight that was breaking through the leaves. It was one of the most peaceful times in my life – being completely alone, but feeling like there was a thick peaceful happiness; stillness; and spiritual calm. The graves round about were mixed in age. Some had messages of love, some told the basics, others were steeped in icons and emblems from a life now gone. There was love and grief mixed in this completely desolate area. And the sun was perfect.

The summer is coming back, and it's time for a little more golden sparkle in my life.

1.. 2.. 3... pink!

I 100% love being a Gypsy.

However, sometimes it's really hard to think of new and interesting things to show.

I was running out the door on my way to a violin lesson when this perfect little opportunity arose.

My Mother told me to look at my niece's new socks. When I turned around to look I saw my niece putting on all of her new socks.

My Mother had no idea that's what she was up to.

But my three year old neice loved her new socks so much she wanted to wear them all at the one time.

She then proceeded to count all the socks for me, when I took a picture of her.



She really, really loves pink.

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.

F E E T

I love scrabble. I sometimes crave playing it.

I hadn't played properly in well over six months and last night was my first time playing again.

My brother and I watched dumb and dumber while scrabble-ing it up.

Although he won in the end, I technically helped with a lot of his words. I don't care about the winning so much, I just love making words.