Styling - Back to Basic

#3 Tips to pick shoes - Buying shoes is an art! 
     


I have shoes range from USD 40 to USD 1,000. Similarly a pair of plain beige heels can vary from USD 40 to USD 800! Of course you may challenge me different people have different budgets and criteria over picking their shoes, but you should still aim to find value for money shoes at different price ranges. 

When going for budgeted shoes especially for heels, pay attention to the details of the finishing. Some of them when I saw on streets or trains, their finishing are telling you that they are really low quality.  Therefore, you should be extra careful to observe if the edges along the side of the heels are nicely done or not. Some of them look bulky and not slim cut, which are not fitting the shape of your feet.

Even if you are buying luxury branded heels, more money not equals to better quality or more comfort.  Below are some of my personal feedbacks towards some of the brands.  If you have bad experience with the first pair, quite natural that you will never consider this brand anymore!

My favorite brands with good style, good fit & comfort!

• Salvatore Ferragamo - best tailor which I can feel my heels are nicely wrapped and supported. My feet also look slimmer.
• Jimmy Choo - nice design and comfortable for very high heels
• Christian Louboutin - love their beige heels and their red sole
• Stuart Weitzman - love their sandals and high heels
• Repetto - love their basic flats.  In Singapore, the weather only allow me to have matte surface

Value for money buy...

• Sam Edelman - not the most high-end, but you just need to have the basic heels in plain colors - black, beige, as well as open-toe platform heels for all occasions.

Brands that I like their design or colors but not comfortable at all...

• miu miu - seriously I used to love miu miu and have more than 20 of their bags, so I also bought their shoes.  Boots are okay but all heels I have bought so far, they are not comfortable at all! I am a bit disappointed as a miu miu fans, though their colors are unique.
• Dolce & Gabbana - I only tried one pair, again very uncomfortable to wear. The heels are very hard and heavy.
• Brian Atwood - I have the most sexiest killer heels from this brand, but they hurt the back of the my heels quite badly, since then I still haven't had the courage to wear them for the second time! ^__^"

 **Disclaimer: I practiced Ballet for 14 years, honestly I think my tolerance level is already quite high in terms of comfort-ability of the shoes... ;)

Coaching is a journey, Not a destination... I've just begun my journey to become a professional coach!

Reflect on the initial 4-day classroom training in early April, it was a very demanding 4 days over my mental and physical state.

For the new knowledge and skills I learnt, my very logical thinking mode is being challenged. There are many things need to be un-learnt and re-learnt. Need to consciously aware of my thinking process at the back of the my mind if I want to be a good coach to help my client by active listening and making powerful enquiry.

For my own sense of being and confidence level, I also felt challenged during that 4 days training. Most of my fellow cohort they are average at least 5 to 10 years more experienced than me in their corporate life or they are entrepreneur who own their own companies. I feel I am a bit too junior compare to their experience and worried I could not bring as much as insights they could contribute in the training.

Apart from the sense of seniority, I also felt physically challenged on my presence in the class, as I am quite small in size, I didn't wear heels, I looked very small physically compare to most of my fellow cohort who are at least one head taller than me.

I felt uneasy during the second and third day of training, but on the last day, my confidence level and self-esteem restored. It was a valuable experience to go through such internal struggles to make myself a stronger person for tomorrow.

Good summary of the importance of Alignment

"Your life has an inner purpose and an outer purpose. Inner purpose concerns BEING and is primary. Outer purpose concerns doing and it is secondary. Your inner purpose is to AWAKEN. Your inner purpose is an essential part of the purpose of the whole, the universe and its emerging intelligence.Your outer purpose can change over time. It varies greatly from person to person. Finding and living in alignment with the inner purpose is the foundation for fulfilling your outer purpose. It is the basis for true success. Without the alignment, you can still achieve certain things through effort, struggle, determination, and sheer hard work or cunning. But there is no joy in such endeavor, and it invariably ends in some form of suffering." - Eckhart Tolle

The power of alignment

"Someone who takes the time to understand their relationship with source, who actively seeks alignment with their broader perspective, who deliberately seeks and finds alignment with who-they-really-are, is more charismatic, more attractive, more effective, and more powerful than a group of millions who have not achieved this alignment." - Abraham Hicks

Professional Coach Training - The most difficult training I have so far...

Today is the third day of the training. The awareness and feeling that I learnt something but unable to apply is very confusing and tiring. But I need to recollect my thoughts, allowing all the concepts and new knowledge to sink in and make sense, then start to practice in real sessions.  Looking forward to start my practical sessions soon!

Sun-dried Tomato Bread

Tired of usual bread buy from supermarket, so make something special for breakfast!

Serving size: 8 pieces (each round bread is about 3 cm height x 9 cm diameter)

Preparation time: 45 minutes (exclude 2 rounds of waiting time)
Cooking time: 12 minutes

Ingredients:      
225g       strong white bread flour
1/2 tsp   salt
10g         or 1 sachet easy blend dried yeast)
100g       butter (melted and cool slightly)
3 tbsp     milk (warmed)
2 eggs     beaten
50g         sun-dried tomatoes (well drained and chopped finely)
milk        for brushing


Steps:

1. Lightly grease your baking tray / cookie sheet.
2. Sieve the bread flour and salt into a large mixing bowl. Stir in the yeast, then pour in the butter, milk and eggs.  Mix together to form a dough.
3. Turn the dough on to a lightly floured working surface and knead for about 5 minutes. Alternatively, use an electric mixer with a dough hook.
4. Place the dough in a greased bowl, cover and leave it to rise in a warm place for 1.5 hours until the dough doubled in size. Knock back or punch down the dough by kneading it for a few minutes.
5. Knead the sun-dried tomatoes into the dough, sprinkle the work surface with extra flour as the tomatoes are quite oily.
6. Divide the dough into 8 balls and place them on the baking tray /cookie sheet. Cover and leave them to rise for about 30 minutes until the bread doubled in size.
7. Brush the bread surface with milk.
8. Pre-heat the oven, bake with 230C/450F for 10-15 minutes, until you see the bread turned into golden brown.
9. Transfer the bread to a wire rack and leave to cool slightly before serving.

My Tips:

• If the sun-dried tomatoes are not preserved in olive oil with dried rosemary/ thyme/ basil/ oregano, I suggest you add in a bit of these dried herbs into the dough at the same time when you knead the sun-dried tomatoes in.  This can enhance the flavor.
• I researched about the ways to make my own sun-dried tomatoes. But after considering all the different methods, I decided to get them from supermarket, as I don't use them that often.  Here is one of the helpful websites I recommend: click here for details

My comments: I think the saltiness and flavor are just right, the texture of the bread is also better than I expect as this is the first time I am baking bread myself.  Not as difficult as I imagine. The only thing is need to plan ahead when to start your cooking, as you need to factor in the two slots of waiting time.