To Bloom in Warm Climates

A few months ago I listened to a BBC Witness podcast episode about Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton's remarriage in Botswana in 1975 (see picture below; and side note: I love the picture of them above!). The journalist quoted Richard Burton who once said that "Elizabeth bloomed in warm climates." What a romantic and intriguing thing to say! I love the idea of someone blooming, and just generally being better suited, to warmer climates. What does blooming actually entail though? Does it mean you always look pretty and put together and not sweaty and shiny (like me in warm climates!)? Does it mean that when some people just want to take a long nap from the heat you have boundless energy and are awake & bright eyed and take long walks and/or swims followed by a glass (or several) of wine or tropical cocktails? Or maybe it means that your personality just gets bigger and better and you as a person feel happier? Though I suppose I wish some dark handsome man would say I, too, bloomed in warm climates I know that is not possible/true, as the following story illustrates.

In July 2004 N. and I went to Playa del Carmen on the Yucatan peninsula in Mexico for a week with L., her parents, her brother, their close family friends, her uncle and her aunt. On our second last day her aunt and uncle rented a van and took us to the famous Mayan ruins at Chichen Itza (see picture below). The van broke down before we even left Playa del Carmen and so we were delayed while L.'s uncle R. fixed it. We finally got on the road but then got lost multiple times on our way there. (We also got lost multiple times on our way back, and we got a flat tire about 20 minutes from Playa del Carmen. In total, our day lasted about 10 hours when it should have been 6, we didn't have a cell phone to call and say we were late, and L.'s parents were really worried that something bad had happened to us.) When we reached the ruins, I was already pretty sweaty and hot from the car. But then once we got inside, I guess it was even hotter and I started to sweat even more. I mostly just felt hot and thirsty, but definitely not sick or anything. However, L.'s aunt J. became convinced that I was about to get heat stroke. "Oh my gosh your back is drenched in sweat" she told me, and so of course everyone, including our guide, had to look at my back. "Your face is so red!" she also told me, and so of course everyone had to closely stare at my face. The number of times I've been told I have a red face (usually by acquaintances or complete strangers) is too numerous to count and needless to say, even when it's true, it really annoys me! The clincher in terms of my annoyance was when J. announced that it was because I was from Canada (argh! Canada is a huge country. I am from Toronto!) that I was so unused to the heat. I know J. was just concerned, and I did appreciate it, but I honestly believe me being from Toronto (which has hot summers!) had nothing to do with how I looked/felt that day. I never felt as bad as J. seemed to think I looked. However, clearly that day serves as a definite confirmation that I don't bloom in warm climates.

Do people ever bloom (or some similar adjective that is positive? maybe toast (as in toasty warm)?) in cold climates? Maybe avid skiers? There must be people that are the equivalent to Elizabeth Taylor in cold climates and just love the cold, ice, snow, etc. I don't bloom/toast in cold climates. In fact, despite being from a place that most definitely has winter, in particularly cold weather (like minus 20 celcius and below) I have to make sure my face is completely covered by a scarf or else my cheeks will get frost bite. In a way that is kind of sad since I can't seem to win in cold or warm climates. Maybe I bloom in temperate climates. But regardless, despite being prone to sweating in warm climates and frost bite in particularly cold ones, I still like experiencing both of those climates. So I think I should just count myself lucky that even though I may not bloom in those climates, I can still appreciate them.

These Boots are Made for Walking

I was about to write that boots are my favourite foot wear but that's not true. Yes, I have been wearing boots a lot this fall (more on that below) but Birkenstocks (particularly their clogs) will always be my favourite shoes. (Come to think of it, I should write a whole post about Birks. Added to the list!) But, even if they are not my favourite shoes forever, boots are probably my second most favourite type of footwear and one pair of boots in particular has been hands down my favourite shoes to wear this fall. Boots and fall go together so well. (Winter and boots go together well too I suppose, but solely for practical purposes. In terms of stylish and cool boots, winter doesn't even come close to fall.)

So in August when I was in LA, we went to the Grove (which is a really cool and pretty mall I'd never visited before but now really like), specifically to Nordstroms, and I bought the best boots ever. The picture at the top of this post is of them/it/one boot, except my boots are a slightly darker brown on the side and have brown laces. (I guess there are multiple versions.) They are by Timberland. They/it may not look super special in that picture but I assure that 1. you can't see its side zipper! I never use the laces and 2. they look so much better on and in person than they do in that picture. I have received more compliments on them than on any other foot wear I've ever had! The first few weeks I was wearing them I thought I could only bust them out once or twice a week. But then I realized that that was silly and so some weeks I wore them 4 out of the 5 days of the school week! They are super versatile in that they look great with dresses, leggings, cords, and skirts. There is only a light bit of snow here right now but much more is surely on its way, and there is already some ice on the ground. And I'm not sure those boots are really that great for ice. So I think pretty soon (if not already) I am going to have to put them away for the winter. I'll wear them a lot in the spring to make up it though.

I always see characters on TV shows (ie. Carrie Bradshaw) or in movies who have so many pairs of shoes (and have shoe closets to keep them in) and I think I'm different. But then I realize that I actually have a fair number of pairs of shoes. Maybe I don't have as many as in the picture below, and maybe a lot of them are strewn around my apt where I repeatedly trip on them or are hiding and/or poking out from under my chair, but I still have a lot. However, most of them are either Birkenstocks or boots, which I don't think is/was very similar to Carrie's collection. Since I got this awesome pair of brown boots around when I first moved to Berkeley (I think?), I've usually had at least two pairs at any given time. I loved those brown ones. I wore them all through Berkeley and in Paris too. I like wearing boots and jeans. Until I lived in Paris, I followed H.'s stylish lead and rolled my jeans up to show off the boots. But then I discovered in Paris that the women just wore their boots right over their jeans and I started doing that. Right now I also have a pair of grey suede boots I really like, and a pair of flat black ones I like a lot too.

Recently I saw a picture on the Huffington Post Style section of Kate Bosworth and her dog (and some guy, see below) and I loved her boots. I then did some googling and discovered a bunch of pictures of Kate Bosworth wearing these other similar ankle boots which I think I actually prefer. (See last picture below.) I had never really thought of short boots before but I think both look really good. And I actually like the idea of pairing them with shorts. After more internet research I found out the ones in the second picture are by a Parisian designed named Isabel Marant. Unsurprisingly I suppose they are hundreds upon hundreds of dollars for a pair. So clearly I am not buying them anytime soon. But maybe one day...