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Welcome all you vintage Dames and Dudes!  This is our cordial invitation for you to come and check out our daily goings-on via Instagram.  Now remember Em is an eternal vagabond and Amy is a recovering ex-pro-photographer, so be prepared for art pieces, travel photos, fabulous gardens, and of course our love of all things vintage!!!

9 Ways to Wear Birkenstocks: Birks With Balls

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Birkenstocks. They be back. Back in a big way...

... And honestly? I'm feeling it. 

Amy laughs at me mercilessly, but it's true. I find myself unabashedly enamoured with these so-ugly-they-intrigue-me slabs of cork and leather. Honest to God, I never thought I'd hear myself saying this, but it seems the Pinterestbrainwash has taken hold of my apparently easily-influenced tiny little mind.

And what's more, back in 1992, the New York Times praised what was then the '60s revival of the Birkenstock: 'If a Ferragamo pump is a sonnet, then the Birkenstock, the humble sandal that has found new following lately, is a haiku: simple, spare, unadorned'. 

Well, never let it be said that this girl doesn't love a good haiku. That and I'm going to be burning the cobbles in Italy next month and doubt the $8 leopard print foam flip-flops that dutifully served me during last year's serious pavement pounding of San Francisco will cut the mustard. I'll be sure to let you know how I get on. 

The thing with Birkenstocks, though, is that every little detail hangs in the balance. Get that skirt length just an inch too long and you're way back in granola land, Dorothy. The modern revival of the Birk emphasises a certain minimalistic swagger: frankly, it's all about cojones. So, without further adieu, here are 9 of the best ways to do Birks With Balls...

>> Em

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vintage picking: the shoe doctor

My mother always used to tell me that appropriate footwear was important.  With that in mind I had to laugh at myself over the weekend, for my shoes were entirely inappropriate for my activities...

good for picking, right? // source

Before I share with you how I'm now sporting a dozen bug bites and scraps on my ankles, you should know that I'm often harping on Em about wearing the most protective shoes for various picking situations... i.e. scrapyards, barns, attics, and garages; each often deep in debris.

now, that's what I'm talkin' about // source

The first, and probably the truest, love of my life is shoes... or I should say: SHOES!!!  At last count I possessed 68 pairs of my own personal, not including the vintages beauties I sell, SHOES.

lots and lots and lots of ... complete inappropriate shoes // source

I was quite lucky to have married a husband that finds S H O E S sexy on my feet and indulges me in my shoe-dom. Often I can be heard giving words of wisdom to young twenty year old girls of my acquaintance: always marry a man that at very least appreciates sexy shoes and/or has a full on shoe fetish, because then you shall never lack for the indulgence of S H O E shopping! I mean, let's face it, the only thing better than wearing great shoes is shopping for great shoes.

French antique market browsing? Yes. Barn rummaging? Not on your life. // source

Back to my story. My love of great shoes meant that this weekend I went away on a trip and got some much needed non-munchkin time with my wonderful hubby, with only some slinky sandals in my suitcase {four pairs in-case you were wondering}.  

you might break your neck, but you'll bag an antique ladder for 5 bucks in the process // source

Of course I love to pick whenever and wherever life takes me, but alas, I didn't bring any of my appropriate foot attire to climb through this dilapidated old barn, soon to be torn down, that I happened to stumble across. This of course did not stop me from delving into the heaping four foot high pile of debris on a quest for a single old metal milk crate. This brings us to Monday morning and I find my ankles are driving me wild itching, bumpy, and inflamed from whatever insects were living in that heap...  

the vintage picking feet cure-all: Converse, baby! // source

The moral to my story is: always pack a pair of picking shoes for whatever kind of weekend you have planned, because let's face it, whether we are pickers by occupation or pickers for fun, we should always protect our bodies.

Confession:  Did I learn my lesson?  Absolutely not!!  I'd dig through that old barn again in whatever footwear was available, because, let's face the facts: vintage metal milk crates are a creative,  fun, and organized way to store our growing collection of... S H O E S! ▲ Amy