First Things First

Since this is the first post to my brand spankin' new blog, I guess I should do the obligatory introductory post.

Let's see... I'm a 28, soon to be 29-year-old working wife and mom living in the 'burbs of Dallas, TX. Sometimes I feel that my life is pretty typical for someone of that description and sometimes I feel that life is anything but typical. For the most part though, things are pretty routine and I like it that way. I will most likely be blogging about life with my 2-year-old son, my husband, a cat who hates me and the daily grind. Or just anything that pops into my head. Whatever.

And, since I use paperbagshoes as a handle here and there around the internets and get asked this question a lot, I'll go ahead and get this out of the way:

What is the meaning behind Paper Bag Shoes?

When I was a wee little girl, maybe 5 or 6, I was waiting on my mother to get off of the phone so we could go do something. I don't remember exactly what I was so anxious to go do, but I remember being really exasperated at the fact that I had to wait for her to get off the phone. She was on the phone with her mother, my g-ma, so you know how long those conversations can go on for.

Anyway, to pass the time I decided to do a little craft project. I grabbed a couple of those brown paper lunch sacks out of the pantry, some kid-safe scissors, and some good ol' Scotch tape. Then I went to town making me some shoes (basically, I just stuck my feet in the bags and then taped them up around my legs). I thought they looked pretty good and wanted to go test them out in the yard. I went shuffling around in the driveway and down the sidewalk. Turns out, once they get wet, paper bags don't make the best material for footwear. After just a few minutes my toes were sticking out the ends and there were shreds of soggy brown paper falling off every where.

So, I go back inside to check and see if Ma was any closer to getting off the phone and/or see what else I could get in to. As soon as I walked in the door, Ma was looking at me inquisitively. She had heard some strange shuffling sounds from me walking around outside and was curious to see what it was. When she caught a glimpse of my paper-wrapped feet, she immediately started laughing hysterically. Laughing so hard she had tears streaming down her face and my g-ma on the other end of the phone was terribly worried that something was wrong.

She finally calmed down enough to tell g-ma everything was fine and got off the phone. She ran to get the camera and had me pose for a few pics, as she was sure she wanted to document this moment for posterity. (I would totally post a pic if Ma could find it.)

It's become the stuff of legend now and Ma loves telling the story of my paper bag shoes. She still giggles when she tells it. It's a little like one of those defining moments in my life, I think. I like to think I'm somewhat of a creative person and I love to make people laugh and maybe it all started with those paper bag shoes.