Flogging My Blog in Fluevog

Another crazy weekend! This coming week is our wedding anniversary, and is our custom most years, L and I go over to Vancouver to visit friends, do a little shopping and hit the Fluevog stores.

My outfit was purely for function:
The top is new-to-me - picked it up on consignment for $18. It's comfy soft cotton and is a small leopard print. The boots are my old standbys (easy to get on and off for shoe shopping) and the tights were essential for warmth and for trying on shoes as well.

I did wear my yellow leather jacket, fingerless gloves and a scarf with this for walking around (we did a LOT of walking), but was in a hurry to leave the house, so no pictures of the outerwear.

Top (Jones New York, consignment), skirt (InWear, consignment), boots (Aldo, consignment), belt (gift from Ruth).

Inigo did not want us to go:

Maybe he thinks if he looks cute enough we'll stay home?

Last time we went to Vancouver, for our friend's surprise 40th birthday, we took a helicopter. This time, we did the cheaper route:

A seaplane! Most people take the ferry as it's relatively cheap and you can drive your car onto it, but it's actually a huge time suck - we always end up having take an afternoon off work and stay an extra night so that we can get a decent amount of time in Van. Factoring in all the costs vs. the time, this actually worked out cheaper!

We left bright and early Saturday morning:

Goodbye, home! I sat on the wing (the plane only holds 10 people or so at a time), so that's what that is in the corner of the shot.

Looking south, we flew by many small islands:

See the line of mountains on the horizon line? That's Washington State.

This rocky island has a house on it:

I wonder if someone lives way out there.

On this island, I saw a house with a tennis court:

I scanned the water for a pod of orcas, but no luck.

We did see lots of ferries, of course:

The ferry takes an hour and thirty-five minutes and it's still over half an hour drive on each end to get to the city. The seaplane (and helicopter) only takes 35 minutes, harbour to harbour.

We also saw lots of log booms being towed by tugs:

That's a real West coast sight. The logs are felled further north on the coast, then brought down south for processing and shipping off worldwide.

Soon, the Vancouver harbour came into view:

I see Canada Place - it's the building with the white sails. And there's our float plane docks!

This morning, we went for breakfast and then headed back down for our flight home:

The moutains on the North Shore are so beautiful.

On the way back, my view was of the Canadian islands (the ones to the south are belong to the US):

Another ferry making its way from Vancouver.

And here we are, back home:

The big white mountain in the far background is Mount Baker, in the US.

But let's get back to...Fluevog:

That's their design studio - John Fluevog works there!

I was utterly charmed by the cool interior - the store is basically a glassed-in space between two heritage buildings (that were built during the Gold Rush era/late 1890s).

Check out the windows on the wall. That's of course a picture of John...but I can't keep my eyes off the shoes!

They were laid out so precisely, grouped by style, on the ground floor. The staircase on the left leads up to the design studio on the mezzanine:

That's our wonderful Fluevogologist (seriously, that's his title, I have his business card) Wes, who helped L and I try on and decide on shoes. Shout out to him, and to the two ladies we met (I hope you got the green boots - they were fabulous). I gave them all my blog business card, and laughed to L that I was flogging my blog in Fluevog.

A shot of the coloured glass panels in the ceiling:

The light streaming in made it look darker than it actually is. It's a huge open space with amazing natural light. What an inspirational environment to design in!

I bought L a pair, and he bought me two. I will be rolling those (and a couple of other pairs from two other stores in Vancouver) out over the next two weeks. Yes, two weeks - we must savour the Fluevogs and not overdo our ecstasy. I will be doing "A Fluevog A Day" so that you can see every one of my 10 pairs. I am a dedicated Fluevogophile!

But I will show you L's two pairs...just as a taste.

The first pair is from the Imperials family, the "Marquis":

They are a very dark navy blue. Dig the red lining. Such a fabulous shoe!

It has the Imperials logo on the toe:

A crown entwined with "JF" and lots of scrolly bits.

I love that Fluevog soles have detail too:

So cool.

The second pair he got was the Tokyo "Kobe":

I love the very long pointy toe (very punk) and the Angel (a long-time Fluevog motif) buckle on the strap.

Of course, the bottoms are special too:

"Tokyo" with John's signature.

Please note that I did not get any compensation from Fluevog, discounts on shoes or anything other than great service - I link because I love.

In addition to doing "A Fluevog A Day"....

I have all my outfits planned for the next two weeks - I'm exhausted!