Happy Thanksgiving!

Enjoy some cuddle time with your fur friends on Thanksgiving!

Happy Stuff Your Face Turkey Day Everyone!

Welcome to the Hive. :)

For those of you coming here from Tradehome - WELCOME!  If anyone would like to contribute to posts or would like to send me post ideas, feel free to email me at Hilary(dot)Lesch(at)gmail(dot)com.  I'm open to anything shoe, book, cooking or general geeky-ness related!  

Check out my post on How to Clean your TOMS using sandal life!

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Happy Tradehome Day!

Combat Boots!!!

As many of you know, I sell shoes for Tradehome Shoes.  Right now is my favorite time of year, boot weather!!  This is the best time of the year to have cute shoes that can be personalized so easily.  The easiest boots to customize are combat boots.  Since the Hunger Games movies made this style so popular this year, combat boots are the style to have.  You don't want to look like everyone else right?  So here are several different ways to wear your combat boots all using just one boot.

Boot Pictured: Madden Girl Gavin in Cognac

Option 1: Full Lace

This style is ideal for skirts, shorter pants, long legs or as an edgier style.  It looks great on people with big calves (make them look smaller).  Add some tall patterned socks for a more feminine style or a bit of extra color.

Option 2: Half Lace with zipper up

This style looks great on everyone!  It's a little more casual.

Option 3: Half Lace with zipper down

This style looks great on people with wide calves.  It allows the boot to be slouchy and relaxed.  Definitely a casual style.

Option 4: Half Lace with tongue down

This style looks great with taller socks.  I recommend getting a sock that compliments both your boots and your outfit.  The boot pictured looks incredible with Wigwam Cream Cable Knit socks.

Option 5: Rolled sides with tongue down

This looks cute with knee length full dresses or skirts too!  Show off your legs with this style.  This style draws the emphasis down to your feet making your legs look longer and leaner.  Add some slouchy cable knit socks to complete the look.

Option 6: Ribbon Laces

(Not Pictured) Grab a thin satin ribbon that matches your boots, cut to the same length as the laces the boot came with.  Trim the edges to a V shape for easy use.  With a lighter (be extremely careful!! get someone to help you!) burn the edge of the ribbon a teeny bit.  I mean a teensy weensy bit, about 2-5 seconds is all it takes.  This will seal the end of the ribbon so it does not fray.  Use just like regular laces, but now you have a very cute, feminine and unique pair of boots!

If your boot is having trouble rolling down, try this technique to "train" the leather to stay.  Once you get the leather broken in, you can tie it without the extra wrap.  Ignore the background music/sound.  When I recorded this the children outside my store were screaming.  I'd just mute the video. hehe.

I hope this helps!  Enjoy creating your custom style with this gorgeous boot or something similar.  These ideas will work on most combat boots that are mid-calf height.  For more pictures of the boots and tying methods, go to my Photobucket.  Happy Tying!

Review Day: Maddie's Choice + Giveaway!

Title: Maddie's Choice
Author: Joyce Zeller
My Rating: 4 stars

Book Blurb:
Romance writer Maddie Taylor is fed up with New York City. She is getting nowhere with her latest manuscript and does not believe true love exists outside of her imagination. When a friend, Jonah Spartman, dies and wills her half of his Arkansas cattle ranch, she sees the chance for a new beginning. Jonah has also left behind two orphaned great-grandsons desperate for affection and an accounting book in the red.

The other half of the failing ranch belongs to Gideon Spartman, Jonah’s grandson, who believes all capacity for love was torn from him during his tour of duty in Afghanistan. Rugged and sexy, Gideon is the enthralling physical manifestation of the hero in Maddie’s current manuscript. He is far from happy to be sharing an inheritance that is rightfully his. As she senses the need behind Gideon’s rough and unwelcoming exterior, Maddie acknowledges her own yearning for love and family.

Jonah’s will requires Maddie to stay on the ranch for three months. When that time is up, will she return to her comfortable but emotionally barren existence or embrace the challenges of her new life, which include cattle rustlers and drug dealers? Maddie’s choice proves to be far from simple.

About the Author, Joyce Zeller:
Joyce Zeller has written articles for a magazine and a cooking column for a chain of suburban newspapers north of Chicago. She has written five books and published two, The Hidden History of Eureka Springs, and Accidental Alien, a work of science fiction, both available on Amazon. Her short story, “Love is a Seed,” is featured in Embrace: A Romance Collection, (2012 Goldmine Press). Joyce has served in the United States Army. As a professional perfumer (School of Perfumery, London, England) and an aroma-therapist, she made custom fragrances in her store. Her creation, Mountain Air, was declared the Arkansas Sesquicentennial Fragrance in 1965. Her latest achievement was getting elected as Alderman to the Eureka Springs City Council. Maddie’s Choice is a romance with her favorite theme, that being human is a lonely business, but for everyone there is somebody to love. It’s a matter of finding them. There will always be kids and animals in her books, and always, humor, “because life without humor is unthinkable.”

My Review:
Another incredible romance novel.  This one isn't a heavy romance novel - not a ridiculous amount of sex or lust, but there is still quite a bit.  I really enjoyed the overall story - a New York author inherits half a ranch.  When she goes to visit the ranch, she finds the love of her life in the form of a handsome rancher named Gideon.  But the question remains, will she stay or go back to New York?  I enjoyed the story very much!  It was sweet, passionate, a true "southern" life story, and chocked full of amazing characters.  It was a little predictable at times, but very good anyway.  I loved the characters.  Gideon, Mark, Fay, Abe, Maddie, Jonah, Randal, Genevra... every single character was well thought out and fit perfectly.  I can't wait to read the sequel!  This series could easily become a favorite of mine.  The only thing I wanted more of in the book was from Maddie's New York life.  What happened to her apartment?  What about her writing, did she finish the book?  Just a few small things that maybe I missed, but don't completely feel like they were answered.  Overall, I really liked this book and will definitely read the sequel.

WIN a $25 Amazon Gift Card to use on Maddie's Choice and so many other books! This giveaway is being hosted by Tribute Books!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Follow the rest of the tour or pick up a copy on Amazon, Smashwords and Barnes & Noble.  Happy Review Day!