The Shoe Challenge and blogging…

The Shoe Challenge of 2011, hosted by Shoeper Woman, has officially ended in February, nearly two months ago. I’ll be honest and say I wasn’t able to wear all of my shoes over the course of one year (and blog them too), due to a number of factors which also kept me from blogging anything else, too.

But still, it was a great experience to take part in the challenge. For one thing, it has definitely helped me change my shoe shopping habits – in other words, to buy less shoes. I didn’t buy tons of new stuff on a regular basis – most of the things I own, including shoes,  I have accumulated over many years – and I didn’t buy any shoes I regret having bought/don’t like anymore, so it wasn’t too bad of a shopping habit, but still I want to think more about what I buy or if I really need something. The challenge has helped me appreciate the things I already have, not just in my shoe closet, but all my clothes and accessories as well – in trying to create a nice outfit around a particular pair of shoes, I often pulled tops/skirts/etc out of my closet which I hadn’t worn in years, mainly because I was too lazy to think of new ways to wear them. So it definitely has also helped me to get more creative with my outfits. Also, photographing the outfits has also helped me see better what works/doesn’t work so well in terms of proportion, colour, etc. What looks good in the mirror or in person often looks totally different in a picture!

Regarding the things that kept me from completing the challenge, university has been the main factor. I was writing my master thesis and took my final exams during the challenge, and of course my education was my top priority. Starting from around the end of the year, I was just way too busy studying to do anything else, let alone think about what I wore! After finally graduating, I needed some time out to relax and plan the future. Now that I have a plan and can work toward it, I really feel like blogging again and hope this time I can keep it up despite the many changes and challenges lying ahead of me: another test (as if I didn’t have enough of them already!), moving to Tokyo, finding a job there (hopefully soon!) and getting married, all within this year!

As Shoeper Woman is doing another Shoe Challenge this year, I’m still considering whether or not I should take part and start over or just “continue” with the old challenge on my own – we’ll see! In the meantime I’ve found lots of gorgeous new shoes to show you…..