Sparkles

I love sparkles. I don't know why, but I am constantly and consistently drawn to things that shine, sparkle, glitter, glisten, gleam. Even things that I KNOW are tacky. Things that are so '90s. [Heck, probably even '80s.]

I don't care what it is. I love them, and if I want to buy things that sparkle, by golly I will.

That includes these shoes, which I recently purchased at a thrift store in Wicker Park, alongside my dear friend saying encouraging things like, "please call me when you wear those. Which will be never." Tell me you don't love them:

Well, there was some skepticism about these darling shoes. I claimed I would wear them, and when people tell me I'm NOT going to do something, it only makes me want to do it more. [Really, I'm not that hard to figure out...]

So I wore them. With this hat:

Just kidding. I didn't go all Michael-Jackson and wear them at the same time. But I do love them. And I did wear the shoes, on Kate's birthday, to a very glitter-friendly neighborhood: Wicker Park.

And it was a wonderful moment.

Now, for those of you who are still thinking, "okay, Ashley can wear them, great, she can do what she wants, she can choose to look ridiculous if she wants..."- I want to direct you to this page:

Notice the shoe here? Notice how it sparkes? This came from Design*Sponge, a website we have come to trust and admire for fashion designing advice. In case that doesn't convince you, look here:

That's from this is glamorous, another blog I have been following.

For those of you who need more practical fashion expertise, I want you to know that my shoes came from Forever 21. Yes, I did buy them at a thrift store, and until this weekend I thought I had found a special find, some sequin shoes that no one else had or could replicate [that was an idiotic thought, considering on the bottom it does say "made in china"]. Yet - I saw these very same shoes in my favorite store ever. I can't find them online, so I can't prove it to you. But you can take my word for it.

Even after all of this explanation and proof that really, they are SUPER fashionable, I know there are still going to be those of you that are skeptical out there. But, that's okay. You do what you want, I do what I want. And I love every second I'm in these shoes.

So much so that I might buy this pair:

...just for a more every-day sort of sparkle. :)