thankful thursday

So I'm trying this new thing...

Every Thursday I'm going to (fingers crossed I keep up with it) blog about one thing in particular I am thankful for. It will be either general, or specifically for the day. I saw this idea on a few blogs, and I think it's a good thing for me to realize the amazing things I have available to me that I shouldn't take for granted. So here goes!

This year I've been doing TONS of traveling. Flying from school in Philly, to back home in SF alone racks up the miles. Add in a flight to Istanbul, with a layover in Munich, and a flight back home from Athens, with a layover in Zurich, as well as a weekend trip to LA. I absolutely love traveling! I am very thankful that I have the opportunity to travel to such amazing places. The thing I find ridiculously intriguing is the fact that you can simply get on a plane and end up in a completely other place!! I love it! So this thursday I am thankful for airplanes, and the amazing technology we have to make traveling possible. And of course, I am superbly thankful for the great top notch airlines, like Virgin America and JetBlue, who make traveling not only convenient and comfy, but also quite stylish. Who doesn't like traveling with class?

What are you thankful for?

stay classy,

madeleine

cruising the mediterranean!

Hello blog-land! Once again, I have been amiss in my blogging duties, but it's the summertime! A few weeks ago I returned from an amazing cruise of the Mediterranean. My family and I spent a few days starting in Istanbul, Turkey, then boarded our SEABOURN ODYSSEY cruise ship (perhaps the epitome of classiness and luxury - more of that to come in a later blogpost), for a 10 day cruise of the Mediterranean that concluded in Athens, Greece. I'll fill you in on just SOME of the highlights!

We stayed in the old city of Istanbul. Our hotel was a minute walk to all of the big tourist must sees (Hagia Sofia, Blue Mosque) Below is a stunning picture of the Hagia Sofia... One of the most amazing centers of art history in Europe - in my opinion, at least.

Inside the Blue Mosque!

Below is my second favorite place we visited in Istanbul (After the Hagia Sofia of course). This is called in Turkish terms, the Yerebatan Sarayi, or the Sunken Palace. Essentially this is one of the many cisterns located under the city of Istanbul. I think this picture explains its beauty!

The same day we visited the Hagia Sofia, Blue Mosque, the Hippodrome, Topkapi Palace (not pictured), and the Yerebatan Sarayi, we also walked through the Spice Market, a 10 minute tram ride away from our hotel. The following day we spent at the Grand Bazaar. I cannot even begin to explain how huge, and almost overwhelming the Grand Bazaar was! So many amazing smells, colors, everything! We bought plenty of Pashmina scarves, jewelry, turkish delight, and hand made crafts. Good thing we had a whole day to spend in the Bazaar, as we literally got lost, and found ourselves roaming far, far, away from where we had started. Below are pictures of the Grand Bazaar!

From Istanbul we boarded our Seabourn Odyssey yacht (more to come on this amazing boat!!) to begin our 10 day cruise through Turkey and the Greek Isles. Having exited the Marmara Sea, and going through the very narrow Bosphorous Strait, we found ourselves at our first stop in Mytlini, Greece (pictured below). I was too busy having such a great time onboard the ship that I didn't go on shore, but luckily my sister snapped this great shot.

Our following stop was in Kusadasi, Turkey. Upon docking, we took a drive to Ephesus. There we visited the amazing ruins of the Temple of Hadrian, the Celus Library, and the amazing ruins of the terrace houses. A lot of restoration work was being done in the terrace houses, but the ruins were really amazing, and beautifully intact!

Following our stop in Ephesus, we found ourselves anchored at the lovely island of Mykonos! Definitely my favorite Greek island! Although it was quite overcast that day, the island's white washed buildings and colorful (mostly blue) accents still shone through! So pretty!

Another great place we visited along the way to Athens was Patmos, Greece. Tons of religious (Christian) significance, but it was also gorgeous! The picture below is a view from the highest point of the island!

Donkeys available for the trip up to the Acropolis of Lindos!

Another view of Patmos and surrounding islands from the Acropolis of Lindos.

Sadly, our amazing cruise had to come to an end :( We disembarked at Athens Greece. To be honest, Athens was probably my least favorite part of our trip (but that's just me being spoiled). However, the historical ruins like the Parthenon pictured below, were absolutely fantastic! Luckily we left Athens right before the real rioting in the city began!!!

Overall, this was an absolutely amazing trip! The sights and destinations were only half of the absolute perfection of the trip - the cruise itself was another story (hopefully to be blogged about later)! So until then...

stay classy,

madeleine

shoe porn: christian louboutin spring2011

Spring time is here! And so is Mr. Louboutin's 2011 Spring Collection. I picked out my favorite, drool causing, heart stopping, shoe porn inspiring shoes. It's like carousing a very, very, very high class escort service.

Let's start off with the beautiful, eye catching, Daffodile Watersnake platform pump. Personally, in my opinion, if I were to buy a pair of loubs (*sigh* one day), I would buy them in black, nude, or grey. Let's face it, the red sole only goes with the neutrals! But I've seen so many Loubs in this electric blue, and it definitely goes with the red sole... amazingly, in fact. I love this. It also comes in a teal and hot pink... but I'm in love with this electric blue. Daffodile is one sexy gal, looking to shake things up ;)

Meet Futura. Shes from the future. She's what you get when you mix Zenon

(umm, yes I made a disney channel movie reference), with Devil Wears Prada. Like I said, I'm not into colors being mixed on the Loub, but this is just too good to not post! She's got some extra padding in the front and back, that way she can last alll night ;) Futura's boring, plain, monotone, brown, sister is not a cheap lady at, $1,096. So I can only imagine how much Ms. Futura costs. Lady Boulimia d'Orsay here. She's so sexy, she's temporarily out of commission, but not before my idol SJP got her hands on a pair. Boulimia comes in black, grey, and nude (at least there's no such thing as vomit color?) with a chain toe pump. Did you say straps and chains? Yes, yes in fact I did! Boulimia d'Orsay is the girl for you. Stardust is another sexy lady here. One word, LACE. I'll let you take it in and lust over her.

This is Miss Open Lips. Don't let the name fool you. She's not as easy as you think ;) She may be smooth as suede, and have a cute peep toe, but she's got a stiletto heel to kill. But don't let that put you off. She's sexy, refined, and comes in red... Oh and she goes for about $795 a night ;)

Meet my friend Fibbia. Shes from Louboutin Spring 2011 collection, and also comes in black. I'm such a sucker for maryjane ANYTHING. but, um, maryjane peeptoes, with

a triple strap, and that sexy heel? Fibbia, I find you absolutely irresistible.

As mentioned above, I'm a HUGE sucker for anything maryjane, so meet the love of my life, the beautiful, Lady Daf. Think she's pretty nude? You should see her in black. "Ummm hi Lady Daf, I'm so in love with you... can I have you?". Yeah... for about $995. Damn.

stay classy,
madeleine

classy vs. unclassy

-Elizabeth Taylor, the epitome of class (1932-2011).

-The Westboro Baptist Church in Kansas that notoriously pickets the funerals of fallen U.S. soldiers, and is now threatening to picket Elizabeth Taylor's funeral because of her support of the gays and AIDS research. UNCLASSY. Not to mention, a generally terrible, selfish thing to do. Unbelieveable. And you call this a religion...

-On a lighter note, tweens finding love, the Biebs and Selena Gomez.... so long as they keep it PG... CLASSY. I think? Looks like that Bieber fever's cooling down. I'm all for that!

-Tween, Rebecca Black essentially getting bullied on Twitter, etc. UNCLASSY. God, I really do hate that song, but let's face it... this girl clearly dreamed big, and actually got somewhere with her dreams... gotta give her credit for that. But don't mistake that for me giving her credit for writing such fabulous lyrics (Please note the sarcasm).

-Bravo's Million Dollar Listing. CLASSY. Classy houses, classy SoCal, and most of all, classy men... Especially Josh Flagg and Madison Hildebrand. SO unbelieveably classy. (Expect a Men of Million Dollar Listing Fashion post soon!). I'm obsessed with these two.

-The third guy of MDL, Josh Altman, mixing business with pleasure. UNCLASSY. He's quite the shark, AND he has issues with Madison Hildebrand. Who knew that was possible!

How can you not love Malibu Madison? A complete shark. That's who.

-50cent's tweets about Japan. UNCLASSY.

Alright now Fiddy, it was about time for an apology, but instead you came out with this "ignorant" ish. I could run around naked for a week for "shock value" but you don't see me doing that. Hate it or Love it.

-Gwen Stefani, THE Harajuku girl herself, donating $1million to Japanese relief. CLASSY.

"I've been inspired by Japan for many years and have a true love, appreciation and respect for the Japanese people and their culture" - Gwen Stefani

- Underdogs #WINNING in March Madness. CLASSY. Cheers to you Virginia Commonwealth, Florida State, and Butler. Something else that's classy? Brad Stevens. He may be a youngin' but he's definitely a handsome young thaang.

-#WINNING like Charlie Sheen? Ummmm, do I really need to say it? UNCLASSY. Now what exactly is he winning at? Oh Charlie....

stay classy,

madeleine

Dear Poor Neglected Blog,

Where do I start?!

Well let me start off by saying I've missed you so! I was kept apart from you by the busy first semester of college, and other things. Oh blog, could you ever forgive me?! I never meant for it to come to this. I thought about you often. I thought about you when I would see a fabulous pair of shoes that I wanted to write about, but alas, I had no time.

I'm hoping this year / this semester I will have more time with you. I'm hoping for more shoes, more fashion, more classiness, more sassiness. We'll see how that goes! ;]

Just an update, last time I talked to you I was moving to Philadelphia for school. I spent the rest of my summer by the pool lifeguarding.

Just a Few Highlights

-Birthday at Crown and Crumpet
see it here!

-Spring Break in New York
see it here!
-Asia SF celebrationAsia SF is a delicious Asian Fusion place full of transgendered and transexual waitresses and performers. I went here with a bunch of my friends for a friends birthday and it was such a fun experience! The "gender illusionists" are awesome and fun! Its overall a fun experience to be had by all. I sure had a blast!
-Outside Lands Concert

Probably the most amazing concert I've been to! It was in August in Golden Gate Park, SF, and I went with my sister. We saw, Social Distortion, Al Green, Slightly Stoopid, Empire of the Sun, Chromeo, Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes, Mayer Hawthorne, Amos Lee, The Temper Trap and Phoenix- The last two were my favorite sets! The lead singer of Phoenix is pictured above! ahhh. I was so glad I went. and it was such a fabulous, peaceful day on the Polo Field!

-Move to Pennsylvania & Nova NationCan you guess which wine glass is mine? (hint: its the second one!) New friends, new city, new school!

-The torture ends and my SF Giants won the World Series!!!

okay, so it REALLY sucked having to be on the opposite coast as my team was playing through and winning the series, and while my family was going to the games. But what can ya do? I was just so happy!

-Sex and the City The Complete Edition came into my life... and caused an addiction.
okay, so I've always been a big SATC fan, and I even liked SATC2, despite the critics and complaints. But when I got the SATC Complete Edition with all six seasons and both movies, my obsession was upped.... A LOT. I've officially watched all six seasons more than twice, and the movies, countless times. It's quite pathetic. What can I say, I got "Carrie-d" away. Ha. But seriously, the little white boxed set is my new bible.


How was YOUR 2010?!
I'm dying to hear!

I wish you all a happy New Year!!!!

stay classy,
madeleine

shoe porn

"Shoes are the first adult machines we are given to master."
-Nicholson Baker

Pucci

Prada

Giuseppe Zanotti

Salvatore Ferragamo

Christian Louboutin

Christian Louboutin Ballet Heels

"You can't walk or run in these shoes, they're only made for lying on your back." -Louboutin.
*rawrr... super classy. HA, joke!

it's one thing to wear painful shoes to look gorgeous. it's another thing to wear painful shoes and fail at the gorgeous part. Yuck. I'll bet 10 seconds after that picture was taken A) the girls feet snapped right off, or B) she fell face first into the ground.

Balenciaga Lego Shoes - $4000

No big. Just 4 grand. I think $4000 worth of Legos could make a building that rivals the Great Wall of China. P.S., what outfit could possibly match with these shoes?

stay classy,
madeleine