A Little Shoe Shop and a Clipper Teeeea

Shoes

Due to my having applied to 5 universities, all requiring interviews and whatnot, I as usual was not prepared properly. I’m not going to lie, I’ve put on at least a waist measurement or two since I last wore smart trousers, and so by last Friday I was feeling a little panicky (probably in part due to exam freaking-out-ness) as I wouldn’t have time before my interview (this last Wednesday) to get clothes that actually fitted and more importantly some nice shoes. Exams really are the bane of my life, I have to do so much revision to even attempt at getting a semi-decent grade, resulting in me holing myself up for the days running up to each exam. Hermit much?
So anyway, since I can’t get nice shoes anywhere but Brantanos and Evans due to my size 8/9 wide, high-arched feet (ugh!) we had to trek to Cowley to Brantanos. Luckily there is a Matalan and TK Maxx right next door 🙂 My intention was to get some dolly shoes, and, OMG, there were literally about 20 pairs in my size! I practically cried with happiness, I NEVER get choice in shoes. And to make the day even better, I fell in love with a pair of the most gorgeous boots. Since my old boots died a painful death (by rabbit), I managed to persuade my mum that I was worthy of some new boots. I tried them on, size 9 right? THEY WERE TOO BIG. I swear it must have been the most happy shoe shopping experience of my entire LIFE, I downsized to an 8 and they fitted me very comfortably, WITH SOCKS. I thought I must be dreaming, lol. So off my happy self went with my means of payment (mum – sorry!) to the checkout. So good!
Next we went to Matalan which isn’t really interesting since I only got interview clothes. So here are the shoes:

These are the dolly shoes; sooo cute, they are very comfy, kind of a happy medium between slippers and tougher dolly shoes. The support isn’t fantastic but worth it for the beautifulness of them 🙂 I think they disguise the size quite well, I wouldn’t look at them and think ‘monster feet’ lol.
The brand is “Red Level”, and the name of the shoes is ‘Showbiz’ in black, which come in sizes 3-9. £18.00 at Brantanos.
And here are the holy boots, size EIGHT! I love them. Due to my high arches they aren’t 100% comfy but then that is always an issue between my feet and anything with a heel. otherwise they are very roomy around the ankle, which is lovely.
A lovely snug fitting around the feet, but a fantastic wide-but-not-obvious ankle. This is great for those of us with cankle and calf anxiety! I was reading up about cankle-hiding shoes (not that I have cankles, but my ankles aren’t as ‘defined’ as one might like, maybe I have water retention, who knows???) and I read that low-top shoes, like these boots, are great for it because the leg looks as though it ‘grows’ out of the boot. I put this to the test and I really have to agree, my legs look slimmer than they normally do with heels. I would even go so far as to say I prefer these to my old boots for that reason.
They have a very rounded toe, more rounded than I would normally go for but having worn them a few times (as you can see!) they really have grown on me. So so happy with these shoes, despite the excessive ‘clopping’ along the street, so I am endlessly grateful to my mum for these. (And of course the brand for finally embracing those of us who need a foot-and-leg-ego-boost!)
The brand is “Caravelle”, and the name of the shoes is “Datto” in brown, which come in sizes 3-9. £36.00 in Brantanos.
Clipper Tea

Whilst pondering the box of the Clipper Green Tea that has become my life, I noticed a small box that said something to the effect of “Want to become a Clipper Tea Taster? Visit this website…” etc etc. So of course, being the tea addict I am, I immediately – well, I lie, not immediately, rest assured I waited for the kettle to boil and for my tea to infuse slowly and adequately – went off to visit said website and sign up. I didn’t actually anticipate receiving anything ever because surely hundreds of people will have done the same thing, right?
Pleasantly surprising me, less than a week later, this arrived through our letterbox:
Obvs I have blanked out my address as I know how popular I am and I don’t want EVERYONE knowing where I live…
Even a voucher for 50p off!
Brewing instructions… well it gives you something to read!
The unbleached teabags. Personally, I’m a fan, it’s better for you, better for the environment…
Firstly these teabags are just a free welcome sample so I won’t be offending Clipper Tea by saying this 😉 but I find these teabags a bit earthy in taste (well obviously not the teabags themselves – I meant the tea…) and I am not wholly converted, I am still a loyal fan of dear Yorkshire Tea with their Rainforest Alliance alliance. But seriously, for the environmental aspect of things I am totally in favour of Clipper Tea, well… I don’t know, Rainforests are important too… maybe I’ll just take turns. Clipper Tea are very environmentally friendly in that all their boxes are recycled cardboard, they don’t bleach their teabags and they are generally much more aware of the environment. I love their packaging, it is always so lovely (talk about consumer directed image) and was tempted by the Raspberry tea. I am converted to this one, what a lovely brew, very very satisfied customer! The only downside to Clipper is that their environmental friendliness comes at a price. And I do mean literally – moneywise you get a lot less for your money with Clipper. I will take this opportunity to counterbalance the negatives with: their coffee is soooo lovely! We have used it since forever so there you go Clipper. And I’m sorry.
Yet more blog posts to come… I haven’t even covered Christmas yet!
Emma xx
Disclaimer: Everything apart from the Clipper Tea sample mentioned in this blog post was either bought by myself with my own money, or given to me as a gift from friends/relatives. All opinions expressed here are my own.