Adding some Hotter pastel travel sandals to my holiday wardrobe

* This post contains an item that was gifted

One of my pre-holiday rituals is working out what to pack, that might sound an obvious thing to do, and it is, but bear with me. I have a tendency to overpack, I realise that that might also not be news, but my ploy now is to get out what I want to take, review it, prune it and try again. What I’ve learnt from this approach is that while I still overpack a bit, it’s way less than before, but also it’s a good way, for me for working out the flexibility that the clothes I take will bring.

On the left the bottom white, navy, brown with pink spots and pale blue pile is my shorts.  To the right is my t-shirts and on top are vest tops. It’s far from a capsule wardrobe, I’ll admit but already I can see that I have options, with vest tops, t-shirts and shorts all earning their place in my suitcase. 

Which is good news, as for our upcoming holiday we’re combining a city stay with a walking holiday, and while both will be casual unless it’s super hot then I’m not much of a shorts in the city kind of girl,  I’ve  got some 3/4 length trousers lined up for there, plus a slightly smarter pair for evenings, which will also double up for the walking part of our holiday for evenings, and if we’re unlucky on not so sunny days.

But, as ever, it’s shoes that are my achilles heel (pun not quite intended).  Something comfortable to wear walking around the city, and then again practical for a proper walking holiday in Portugal’s Serra Arrabida on the Setúbal Peninsula, which we’re led to believe is virtually undiscovered.  With walks generally over 10 km each day, the longest walk is 18 km - a circular walk at that on day four,  and terrains that include forest tracks, country lanes, valleys and ridges proper, supportive and comfortable footwear will be needed. 

And that’s often where I struggle.  I have plenty of footwear, and more recently I’ve acquired plenty of flatter options too, but still none that I’d deem appropriate enough for such a trek.  So when Hotter offered me the chance to add their travel sandals to my walking holiday wardrobe and I realised that the pastel colourway was in ‘my colours’, how could I refuse?

When they arrived, my instincts about how well they matched my wardrobe was proved right.  There’s pinks, lilacs and blues as well as the greys, and holding them up against the clothes I’m planning to take shows that.  Trying them on  was the icing on the cake, they’re as comfortable as I’ve come to expect from Hotter shoes, and so I’ve a feeling that any dragging my feet on that long circular walk, won’t be due to my footwear. 

* This shoes were gifted by Hotter Shoes to review, I’ll be sharing how they - and my feet - fared on our upcoming walking holiday, as usual all views and opinions shared here and in my future posts are and will be my own.

For the love of wood

You’ve probably seen the contemporary concave shelving by Jointed & Jointed, but may not have known who it was by. You might not have seen some of their other designs though. They were at Grand Designs earlier this year and their stand was one that just encouraged you (or me at least) to walk around it ‘stroking’ the furniture, while trying not to of course.

I think it’s the grain on this bureau that makes it work and gives it its contemporary feel, and I think I’d definitely feel more organised. Perhaps momentarily, but I’m sure I would!

The shelving unit with its boxed ‘zones’ also appeals to me. For me it’s the irregularity that appeals, for MOH it’s the irregularity that he’s not so keen on. If I thought it was something that would work in our house, then I think this would be worth the work that would be required to pave the way for this one.

What I wasn’t expecting to see was a wooden desk lamp - well you wouldn’t would you? But after seeing it, I kind of wondered why not?

But the item that really captured my attention was this tower of wooden shoe boxes - I think the shoes could do with more work, but that’s by the bye. I spent a fair amount of time admiring this walnut tower of loveliness which was commissioned by Wallpaper* magazine for their Handmade series.

MOH could spot the signs and moved quickly, pointing out that I’d need several of these or have to have severe clear out. He needn’t have bothered though as I’d already spotted the £4k+ price tag, and yet it was still lovely.

There’s nothing else for it, I’ll need a dressing - or more appropriately - a shoe room, that makes perfect sense doesn’t it?

Putting my new Hotter boots through their paces

Last week I met up with the lovely people from Hotter Shoes in their new Brighton store, and as you might have seen on my social channels I left with a new pair of boots. I was in shoe heaven that evening locked in a shoe shop after hours, with company and under instruction to try on whichever shoes I fancied. That's definitely a good night in my book.

I had a lovely afternoon in Brighton yesterday, though am paying for it with tiredness today! After some lunch we went...

Posted by Life at 139a on Wednesday, 2 December 2015

Some of you will already be Hotter converts, knowing that their shoes are some of the most comfiest around. Others of you may still be in the same camp as MOH who quite frankly refers to them as old people's shoes. He's got a lot to learn, although I'll admit that not all of their styles appeal to me. But then again nor do the entire range of other brands either.

Actually let's talk about that. Hotter will I'm sure be the first to admit that they first appealed to an older audience, in 1959 when they started out slippers were their thing. And as an image, you really can't get older than that. But now they say they make shoes as comfortable as slippers, and that's quite a claim. 

Last week I tried on several pairs of shoes - well it would have been rude not to, wouldn't it? And it was the boots I left with that I found the most appealing, and the most comfortable. In fact I kept them on the whole evening and yes I was extra careful not to spill my canapés on them. I learnt that it's the millions of air bubbles that make the Hotter shoes comfortable, that and the wiggle room they provide for feet.

So while I wasn't under any compulsion to write a review of my new boots, I did want to share with you just how comfortable I found them. And when I got to thinking about a review for shoes, I thought that wouldn't be so exciting to read - I mean there's only so many ways to photograph and describe any pair of shoes. Even for me.

So I guessed you might be more interested to know what I got up to in them, and as they were so comfortable I thought I'd put them where my mouth was so-to-speak and wear them for the first time this weekend when we had a bit of a mega-day planned in town.

I woke Sunday morning reconsidering my madness. Was wearing new shoes for the first time for a Christmas market, Christmas shopping and Festive afternoon tea jaunt really my best idea. Thankfully I'd not said this publicly so I could back out without anyone knowing...

However I had planned my outfit around them. And they did feel comfortable. So I decided to go with it, even if it was a little bit of a bonkers plan. 

What could go wrong? 

We left home and headed to Waterloo so MOH could pick up my Christmas present which I'd reserved earlier in the week. With that collected we headed over to the South Bank and being in full tourist mode I couldn't resist some photos of the London Eye. And MOH was given his first photo assignment of the day.

We wandered along the South Bank heading towards the Christmas Market there. To be honest I was less impressed with the market, I think previous years have been better, but the carousel was pretty. There were more food stalls this year though so we stopped for a Bratwurst with sauerkraut and perched alongside a table to make sure no stray mustard or ketchup attacked my boots.

Now fed and running out of Christmas market we headed over the Hungerford Bridge, up through Trafalgar Square and past some huge box balls in some rather fine dustbins. Don't they look great?

Then it was onto Piccadilly where there's one shop we always visit this time of year to buy a special pack of mince pies. And this year was no exception. 

While MOH explored the gentleman's department, which I'll admit is a fascinating place I sneaked a quick sit down in one of their wing-backed arm chairs. Well I was conserving energy, though actually my feet were feeling surprisingly spritely.  

We still had a fair bit of walking to do though as our next stop was a couple of department stores on Oxford Street. So avoiding as many of the crowds as we could by skirting around some of the back streets we finally headed up New Bond Street and along to the shops we were aiming for. 

With our coffee supplies replenished and some Christmas shopping bought, we were soon done with Oxford Street. We don't tend to walk up and down Oxford Street itself because of the crowds so as usual headed towards Wigmore Street and walked parallel to the busier street. By now I fully expected to be flagging and in truth I was a little. But my boots weren't rubbing, and we slowed our walking pace for a little to give ourselves a breather. 

I also deployed my old trick of pausing for photos as and when I fancied a break. It's a great tactic, and quite often it means you get to see bits of wherever you are you're not quite expecting.

THE CANOPY AT WIGMORE HALL

CHRISTMAS LIGHTS AT SEVEN DIALS

It wasn't long before we headed back towards Oxford Street, crossed it into Berwick Street and zig zagged our way through the streets and towards Seven Dials. There was a point for us aiming for Covent Garden and that was a rather scrumptious and longer than intended Festive Afternoon Tea. It's something that's becoming one of our traditions and not a bad one to have, which makes Christmas shopping much more fun and more of an event.

What I hadn't thought of when I planned this post was darkness. I know it's getting dark early but I'd overlooked the fact that photographing black boots once it's dark doesn't really work, does it? But after our late afternoon tea we headed down towards the Piazza at Covent Garden anyway to admire their decorations. 

MISTLETOE DECORATIONS AT COVENT GARDEN

COVENT GARDEN'S CHRISTMAS TREE (WITH AN UNKNOWN GENTLEMAN!)

And then it was time to head home.

I'M STILL STANDING!! 

So almost 17, 500 steps later we were home. And more importantly I was still wearing my new boots and I could still walk in them. My feet were tired, but given how far we'd walked of course they were. But boots hadn't rubbed and the next day I still wore my heels to work, as usual. 

So I think you'll agree the boots (and my feet) did well. So if you're looking for some stylish and comfortable shoes take a look at the new Hotter range I don't think you'll be disappointed, I certainly wasn't.  And just so you know there's no need to test them in the same way I did, unless you want to of course, and afternoon tea is always a good move!

Thank you to Hotter for my new boots and for providing the inspiration for this post, all opinions within it are my own (and my feet's!)