March 24, 2011

Ritual Consumption: Birthday Shoes


This little blog is going on four years old! To be fair, I've only been blogging with more-than-semi-monthly regularity for about a year. But regardless, I have a few ideas to celebrate and thank everyone with a giveaway.

Years ago I had a livejournal. Eventually I made it private but much like my old LJ, I like to revisit my previous years entries and look at how I celebrated milestones. On this blog, since it is material-centric, I like to remember my outfits and what I wore during travel. I also enjoy seeing the gifts I bought for others and how I indulged myself for my birthdays. My annual tradition used to be to buy a cute bag but in more recent years I've ended up buying myself a pair of shoes. The above were my score for this year. I saw the seaming on the toes of these Chloé flats and loved how they were evocative in a subtler way of the Paddington bag. I already have the Paddington lock flats. And I've come to find my Chloé flats blend comfort with durability more so than MBMJ or Tory Burch or any other flat favorites. If it isn't clear from the photo, I gifted them to myself early (bday isn't until April 5th) and have worn them quite a bit since!

How do you celebrate your birthday? Do you buy something for yourself or drop hints? Do you forgo gifts altogether and go out for a fancy dinner or throw a party? Are you low key and try to let the date go by unnoticed?

8 comments:

Kristin said...

The past few years I have purchased myself a nice gift (usually with my anthro b-day card:) and we go out to a nice restaurant for dinner/drinks/dessert. New shoes is a great idea! Happy early birthday!

Marianne Canada said...

These shoes are just lovely! I am not good about dropping hints (I need to get better at this to stave off disappointment), but I usually buy myself something that is a splurge, but good investment. Like a classic trench coat or well tailored pair of jeans.

Steph said...

I love the stitching on your shoes- it's the little details that get my attention and affection.
I'm very low key about my birthday and will usually buy myself a gift. Last year, my clever boyfriend went on amazon.com and saw my recently-viewed-items (shoes, shoes and more shoes). He picked out the pair he thought were the cutest of the bunch (they were my favorites too, I was completely shocked!).

Happy (soon-to-be) Birthday!

Tien said...

Happy early birthday! I usually get myself a new dress, but I love the idea of new shoes!

Carol said...

Ooooh, I love the shoes! I totally just shop for myself for my birthday - my husband never seems to pick up on (or maybe he deliberately ignores) my hints.

Thirteenlbs said...

I bought shoes this year too-- the slinking frills heels, as a matter of fact. At full price! Gasp! But they are worth it.

Steph said...

Oh my birthday seems like so long ago, it was in August and I think I got a new ipod, my had just broken and running just isn't fun without one. I purchase clothes normally for myself, but this year I bought furniture, a bookshelf, desk, and coffee table! I'm already making plans for my birthday gift this year. It will be from Anthro and I will love it forever.

Jessica said...

I do normally cave and purchase a pretty new dress for myself on my birthday. I'm such a girl! ;-) Your shoes are darling!

LinkWithin

Related Posts with Thumbnails