happy shoes

Today, the Good Girls want to know: What are my favorite shoes? So I'm taking a break from my normal pensive, have-I-stumbled-onto-the-meaning-of-life-yet, sort of posts to join in and tell them.

First, you have to realize, I am a horrible shopper. I rarely end up liking my clothes after the first wearing. You'd think after so many times, I would figure out what I am doing wrong and stop doing it. But, no.

I heard a friend say once, "If I could afford to dress like I want to, people would be very impressed." That's sort of how I feel. In my head, I have great taste. In reality, not so much. The only exception is shoes. Felicity once described me in an essay as the girl who can pull off the shoes that she only wishes she could. Isn't that a lovely compliment? I had a pair of gigantic burgundy platform sandals at the time, and she said I looked great in them - like a Barbie doll I think she said (or was it that they would have looked like cheap Barbie doll shoes if she wore them? I can't remember, but it was a compliment to me anyway). Michael hated those shoes. I don't normally like to wear something my husband (self-proclaimed epitomizing of the song "Simple Man" by Leonard Skinnard) wouldn't like - no matter how cool it is, but I draw the exception with shoes because it's all I've got, Man. At least I'm good at that. Mostly because cheap can still look trendy. I always get asked things like, "Are those comfortable? (i.e., "Those can't possibly be comfortable"), and I always answer with, "I don't understand the question", or "Is that some kind of prerequisite for footwear?" or sometimes, "No. Not even a little bit." But I love them!

I haven't really indulged this gift in a while. One of the pairs that always leads to the above question is now missing part of the sole, and I do actually get a back ache when I stand in them too long. I was completely panicked about this because I thought my happy shoe days were over and that I had finally gotten too old for it, but Felic pointed out the sole problem, and all was once again right with the world.

Because it's been a while, these sandals are the only ones in my closet that come close to reflecting my relationship with interesting shoes. They're pretty old, but I still love strapping them on. I always feel cuter once I do, and actually, yea - they're almost comfortable.