Valerie can be bought

One of the interesting things about fashion is that manufacturers often give their styles arbitrary female names. I guess it's a good way for companies to keep stock of their inventory; lest they be titling all their shoes with tongue-twisters like "that blue stiletto with the black lace overlay and the velvet lace-up ties"—a recent purchase of mine that also goes by the much simpler "Meka." Another practical benefit for the sellers? It just might encourage shoppers to buy a shoe with their name on it. It worked on me!

I found the outrageously bright-colored floral shoe called Valarie while browsing a sale on ShoeDazzle, placed it in my cart, and then failed to check out because, "Really, is it really worth paying 20 dollars just to have a shoe with your name on it? It's not even spelled right!" But I'm glad I waited because,  a few months later, ShoeDazzle held an even better sale, and I was able to get Valarie and 3 other pairs of shoes, for an average 10.19$ each!

Now, as a general rule, I avoid shoes with wild prints because they aren't very versatile—only looking good with really plain clothing. But, but, this one had my name on it!

The elusive "Valerie" dress

So there you have it. I was compelled to purchase a shoe I wouldn't have otherwise, simply because it happened to share my name. That's marketing for you. On a related note, I once found a dress named Valerie at eShakti. Unlike the dubious floral shoes, this dress was right up my alley – green and nature-y and asymmetrically embellished – but I chose not to buy it because of its price. Then I regretted it forever after. It's no longer sold on eShakti, so I keep an ongoing search for it on eBay, in the hopes that I'll one day find it in my size.

But back to the shoes. What better day to wear a shoe bearing your name than on your name day (I assume that that's the Game of Thrones equivalent to a birthday)? Yesterday was Valerie's day, and the day I wore Valarie on my feet!

I paired the shoes with the only thing in my closet that looked good with them—an all-black two-piece ensemble (unrelated separates that just happened to look like they were made to be together! Until I looked at them in bright sunlight and found they were actually two shades of black.)

But all-black is too somber for a day of celebration, so I popped on a set of yellow rose jewelry! You may remember the brooch from my grandma's collection, but I've never blogged about the earrings...to be honest, I don't remember if I've ever actually worn them. They were originally clip-ons, and they looked comically huge attached to my lobes, not to mention that clip-on earrings are a special form of torture! I converted them to dangle earrings just in time to accessorize my birthday suit!