The Good Girl Gone Blog

About a month ago, I told my boss that if I achieved a certain goal, she needed to award me a prize. I was joking, but apparently she wasn't. Look what she brought me on my last day of work:

My boss, Sara, wears many hats. She's a head of PR, a shopper, a mother, a teacher, a boss, a traveler, a writer, a dog lover, a foodie, a wife, a cheerleader, a mentor and a friend. She's never shy about her opinions and I truly respect her for that.

So Sara, thanks for wearing so many fabulous hats. I think after today, I might add "fairy godmother." Oh, and thanks for my Betsey Johnsons! Can't wait to wear them :)

As you guys know, my summer internship with PayPal brought me to Blogher. I was so lucky to be able to attend and meet so many cool people, especially all the lovely ladies I worked with at the eBay Fashion booth.

I think you'll find my recap is a lot different than those of other bloggers attend, because I was there as a sponsor. Read on, my friends, read on.

PR girls are always stylish- all glasses are from eBay, as well as the clutches, denim vest and my AMAZING purple suede skirt...that sadly went back with the rest of the merchandise.
I like to call this my "Ke$ha" outfit- I'm not really sure why. I think it's all the eBay bling. I loved this little leather skirt (from eBay) and am pretty sure I'm the only person that tried it on. Also, note the belt (eBay) worn as necklace bling.

This girl was so cute- she's an inch taller than I am, so we decided to take a stylish short girl photoYou can sort of see the cute Report boots (eBay) Hannah tried on and the fact that I am trying to make a size 8 pair of leopard heels (eBay) fit...I'm a size 6.

These Marni shoes (eBay) were TO DIE FOR. I loved wearing them around the booth and encouraged all of the girls with small feet to try them on. Additionally, I'm wearing one of my favorite skirts. Eric refers to it as my "show choir" skirt, but I think it's quite amazing. Plus, this one lady kept telling me to "work it, girl!" all day.

Sara picked out this outfit and all pieces are from eBay. I pretty much became the official Barbie of the booth, and everyone had a say in what I should wear. I walked around the expo hall giving out promotional materials in this costume. I also pretended I was a celebrity and routinely said "no autographs, please," and wore my sunglasses inside.

Karen Bard, eBay's FABULOUS  trend expert, chose the pieces in this outfit. We posed as Mary Kate and Ashley...and Sara continued to call me Mary Kate throughout the weekend.

If you were at BlogHer, did you have a chance to stop by the eBay fashion booth? If so, what did you try on?

People at work often stop me to ask one simple question: "Where did you get those shoes?" I must admit, it's very flattering. I love when people notice the hard work I put into pulling together an outfit, especially when it comes to my shoes. Yet when people ask, I often feel bad when I have to reply "Oh, they're from London" or "I got them at a thrift store in Canada".

You see, I want to use my shoe shopping abilities for good. I want to be able to show others the importance of a great pair of shoes and that you don't have to spend $250 to find the perfect pair. I want my footwear admirers to be able to buy shoes from my favorite stores, and to love them as much as I do.

Enter Mia. She's cute and petite and has super tiny feet. I thought my size-6 feet were small, but Mia wears a 5! She recently complimented me on my shoes, asked me where I got them and lamented the fact that she can never find anything cute in her size.

Determined to help, I scoured the Internet for some great shoes for Mia.

All of the shoes listed below are under $50. They come from 3 different Websites: 6pm.com (a Zappos company- they have AMAZING sales), zappos.com (free shipping...always!) and DSW.com (Earn points towards $10 gift cards and enjoy free shipping on purchases over $35 til 7/6 just by becoming a member).

  Wedges:

• Coconuts Orchid Wedge Sandals- DSW, $49.95
• Matty's Gigi Wedge Sandal- DSW, $49.95
• Betseyville Jolie- 6pm, $35.10

Heels

• Madden Girl Setra Satin Platform Sandal- DSW, $39.95
• Promiscuous Maren- 6pm, $34.30
• Gabriella Rocha Dancy, 6pm, $34.98

Flats

• Fossil Sofia Flat- 6pm, $40.80
• Kensie Girl Justine- Zappos, $38.95
• Unlisted Save Time- Zappos, $39.00

More

• Mattise Iris- 6pm, $40.57
• Guess Carrie- 6pm, $43.70
• Romantic Soles Geneva- 6pm, $32.50

Lessons learned:
From this exercise in small shoe searching, I've discovered a few things: cute shoes DEFINITELY exist in small sizes, some of my favorite brands make small shoes and many of my favorite discount websites carry these shoes. Unfortunately, though I can often find shoes in the $20 range in size six, it was much harder to do so for a size 5. Clearly there is a lot less variety for those shopping in the size 5 range, but cute shoes definitely exist...you just have to know where to look!

Today has been particularly fun because I have my very own intern...sort of. Sara brought her daughter in and she's been sitting with me at my desk all day. We chose the daily shoe together, posted things on facebook and watched Sonny with a Chance. (Well, Cecilia watched and I did work watched a little too.) We ate bagels and ice cream and did a lot of giggling.

We figured out that we both love Betsey Johnson and Mariah Carey's closet.

So I know I've mentioned before that I always wanted to have a pledge (a boy pledge to carry around my books at school and tell me I'm pretty), but having an intern is just as awesome.

Hopefully she'll prepare some really cute fashion collages for you tomorrow!