animal print | The Sugarlump

Christmas Eve morning, my immediate family had our Christmas here in Nashville. It was a lovely, cold, sunny day and I saw a few snow flurries float by as I made my way from my bedroom to the coffee. Now that Santa brings my sister’s and my gifts wrapped since there is no need for assembly, the morning commences with less urgency, though it is still a very special day. This year was particularly special because we only have 2 chairs in the living room so my sister and I sat on the floor. I don’t think we noticed. We were just happy to be together.

I have a little bit too much fun sometimes when it comes to gift giving and gift wrapping. I gave Eugene a pair of slippers with stuffed animal puppies on them for when her “dogs are barkin.'” I got a real chuckle out of that one. I think she did, too. She may think it was a gag gift, but I will insist she wear them at all times when she’s here.

We recently purchased a dehumidifier for the basement and I asked the installer to save the box for me. I had a particular gift I needed to wrap in the large box. My mom was eager to find out what required such a large box.

A pair of earmuffs! My dad thought it was pretty funny, too.

The best gift reaction, however, was my dad’s. We got tickets for the 4 of us to go to the Kentucky vs. Louisville game this past Saturday. For those of you who aren’t familiar with Kentucky basketball, this game is a very big deal. Perhaps the biggest of deals. And guess what? Kentucky won! Barry was one happy guy.

Clearly, it was a successful Christmas.

We headed up the road to Cumberland County, where my grandparents live. We started out at my dad’s parents’ house Christmas morning. It must have been too early and I must have been under-caffeinated as I failed to document that leg of the journey. My bad. It was lovely, I promise. I was wearing pajamas so it’s probably best there aren’t pictures.

Lastly, we made the several mile trek down the road to Grandmother’s house where our wardrobes expanded.

Here, we had cleaned up a bit and were camera ready. I love my dad’s face in this picture. I think this is the most he’s been photographed since my sister and I were born as he is usually the one taking the pictures.

For the first time ever, I was sitting in the other Wingback back like this one Grandfather is sitting in. In 25 years, I had never sat in one of these chairs as we exchanged gifts. I don’t know why, but it seemed like a big milestone for me. I had a whole new perspective from which to appreciate my Grandmother’s living room and our holiday tradition.

I love these sofas. They are so fabulous. I can’t say no to velvet…

…or animal print. Eugene and I had a good laugh when we each pulled out leopard dresses to wear Christmas Day. This was not planned. Happy accident?

Hope y’all had a Merry Christmas,

Sugarlump

I talked to dear little Eugene on Skype today. We discussed many things about her first week in Paris, the most important of those being the shopping of course. She showed me her latest finds, one of which was a pair of shoes. Men’s style, smoking slippers in cheetah print. They will look adorable on her because she has narrow feet and a high arch so even though they are based on a men’s style shoe, her feet won’t look manly in them. Seeing my favorable reaction, Eugene asked me if I might want a pair. I had considered this a while back when this style starting appearing in stores here and had come to the conclusion that my less narrow and less-arch-y feet might not look so cute in these shoes, but instead rather manly. Eeek.

So I told Eugene that I would be passing on smoking slippers, but to let me know if she found any pretty blouses. Surely those won’t look masculine on me.

Not two hours later, I was at the mall shopping for some black pants for work when I somehow found myself in the 65% off shoe racks at Dillards. I really have no idea how these things happen. I think it has something to do with a gravitational pull. Some sort of fundamental law of physics pertaining to women and shoes. I believe it’s called Prada’s law.

Anyway, I was circling the 7/7.5 rack like a lioness on the hunt for food for her cubs, when I ran across these little smoking slipper gems. I had seen them when they first hit stores a few months back. I had picked them up, swooned, considered the manliness factor, decided they might not be so bad due to their colorfulness, sequins, and hint of animal print, and then I put them back on the display because I couldn’t justify such a novelty purchase when I needed more basic and versatile shoes for work.

When I came across them again this evening, I was still on the hunt for practical shoes for work, but these shoes were much more enticing and justifiable at 65% off. I put them on with my black yoga pants. They didn’t look half-bad. I shook my head, telling myself that these were superfluous. Very fun, but certainly not what I need right now. I put them back on the shelf and walked around trying to find some basic black wedges, which have proven to be impossible to find this year.

Black wedge-less, I kept finding myself in front of the semi-manly, awesome shoes and I kept telling myself that I really didn’t need them.

But it didn’t matter. Because you just can’t say no to fabulous.

Precisely two hours and fifteen minutes after telling my sister that I didn’t want any smoking slippers, I purchased smoking slippers.

Clearly, I’m a woman of my word.

I can’t wait until Eugene reads this. I predict a lot of head-shaking.

Y’all stay fabulous,

Sugarlump

The Sugarlump

Tag Archives: animal print

Christmas 2013

A Woman of My Word