Tag Archives: shoe making

Ready to Begin My Course…

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Getting to Ashland was painless and hassle free. Since I work for an airline, I get to fly standby, so long as there’s an empty seat for me. This is a great benefit, but it can sometimes turn into a nightmare…weather, maintenance, load restrictions, and all those paying people who show up at the gate and want to get on the earlier flight ;-) I gave myself 3 options for each flight, I was able to get on the first flight of choice each time! I even flew on another carrier from Portland to Medford which was completely stress free! They gave me a seat assignment when I checked in at the ticket counter…yes, the flight only had about 18 people…but US Airways doesn’t do that and it takes a load off knowing you’re not going to get lost in the shuffle at the gate!

After the shuttle driver, who picked me up in Medford, asked what brought me here, and I answered that I’m taking a shoemaking class, he went on about how much he detests women’s high heels. He said how unattractive they look and how they’re emerging again into fashion after what seemed like a comfort shoe movement. He does live in Ashland…there’s no shortage of Dansko wearing people. (which I wear!…at work)

I arrived a little too early to check-in (9:30am), which I wasn’t expecting to check-in, just drop my bags off so I could go wonder around Ashland, which I did. The man at the front desk suggested Morning Glory for a place to get breakfast. Now, if I opened a breakfast place, this is what it would look like and there wouldn’t be much difference in the menu. In fact, most everything on the menu, I seem to have made at some point for Sunday Brunch with friends. The prices were a bit shocking ($13-$15… for breakfast dishes and I was eating at a counter) and ($3-$4 for coffee and tea) but the service was wonderful and the food was delicious AND it was their 15th Anniversary, so they offered a complimentary mimosa.

I chatted a little with the lady who sat down next to me. She’s a costume maker! She visited Ashland about 30 years ago, went home, sold her belongings (car included) and moved to Ashland. She teased that maybe I would do the same…

This morning is the first day of class and it absolutely feels like the first day of school. I have that nervous, excited, anxious feeling.

I Shoe Believe…

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My all time favorite fairy tale is Cinderella, but not for the romance…the Prince should not have needed a shoe to tell him that the Evil Step-sisters were not for him. I adored Cinderella for the dressmaking, or should I say, altering? Remember the scene when Cinderella and the lovely little critters jazz up Cinderella’s older dress? That’s the scene that makes the movie for me. I adored the glass slippers and to this day, I search for the black flats that best represent the ones Cinderella wore when she swept and fed the chickens.

I’ve had quite a fascination with shoes my entire life: the first pair I can remember, black patent leather Mary Jane’s that I never wanted to outgrow.  Then there was my obsession with high-heels…I couldn’t wait for my feet to grow into the sizes high-heels came in.  I remember the ones my mom’s friend, Dotty, gave me to play dress-up with, I called them the Dolly Parton shoes, because they were stilettos with pointy toes, like the ones she wore in 9to5. At a Church yard sale, I picked up a pair of Dolly Parton style wooden platform sandals with 3” heels…for 50 cents! I also keenly remember a pair of purple suede slides with a 3” heel that were my Aunt Emma’s that I liked to play dress-up with which were very similar to the wooden style platform shoes that Candies reintroduced in the late 90′s.

Maybe it’s no wonder that I now find myself ready to take a shoemaking class at Bonney and Wills School of Shoemaking and Design which I plan to blog about right here!