Shoes are practically a food group

This is for Darlene.  She said I had to post pictures of all the new shoes I bought, which makes it sound like I bought dozens and dozens of new shoes, but I didn’t.  Technically, I ordered 6 new pairs, plus the 2 I bought a few months ago, and then the 3 I bought at the DSW while in Vegas.  So… that’s still under a dozen!  And, they all fit in my shoe closet, which means I didn’t have to get rid of any old shoes (per Travis’ rule that all shoes must be contained within the shoe closet).

Hmm… pay no attention to the pile of boots in the corner.  They don’t really fit in a show rack, so they just get piled up and sometimes they fall over.  It’s in no way an indication that I have too many shoes.  I actually do wear them all, too.  I have summer sandals and low heels, hiking shoes, boots, casual weekend heels, work heels, comfy walking shoes that look cute (very important!) and a couple back up comfy shoes I bought on sale in case my other ones ever need to be retired.

I love shoes!  You don’t even have to worry if you gained a few extra pounds over the holidays, they make my feet look cute, and they make me taller.  I have some that match outfits and some that go with everything.  And they’re usually cheaper than buying a new purse, something I also love to do.

My latest obsession is finding the perfect wedding shoes.  I want to wear blue shoes under my wedding dress, partly because they’re “something blue” but also because blue is my favorite color and we never really figured out how to incorporate it into our wedding colors.  And, I don’t think I’d ever wear a pair of white heels every again.  So, this way, I can splurge on new shoes because I can tell myself I’ll wear them all the time after the wedding.

It’s really hard to find a good shade of blue.  I didn’t really want navy blue, but it’s looking like that might be the only option.

This is my latest purchase.  The three on the left came from DSW – a dark brown pair for work and two wedges in khaki and gray that are surprisingly comfortable.  The last three are wedding shoe contenders. (There are 4 pairs in the Zappos box that I didn’t photograph because they are going straight back and don’t count.)

These lovely ladies are rsvp Olive, Badgley Mischka Randall, and Nina Falana.  I actually just sent Olive and Randall back and ordered rsvp Michaela instead.

I ordered Randall first, because I love the color, the heel height, and the fluffy poof at the toe.  It’s a 4″ heel, but the other 4″ heels I tried on from Badgley Mischka weren’t uncomfortable; they just weren’t what I was looking for.  I really wanted to love Randall.  I thought if I could just break them in, they’d be comfortable.  I’ve had a couple of pairs of shoes that were unwearable the first couple of times I wore them, and now they’re really comfortable.  But, Randall kept cutting off circulation to my pinkie toe, due to the cut of the toe fabric.  I could take 5 steps in them, and then I’d just be hobbling.  I even tried seeing if a Foot Petal would help.  In the end, I just had to admit there was no way I could wear them for my wedding, even for just a little bit.  Plus, at $200 there was no way I could justify keeping a shoe I couldn’t walk in.  Back they go.

Then there’s Olive… I liked Olive at first.  Another 4″ heel, but I liked the sparkly at the toe.  Unfortunately, it has a weird platform attached to the sole and Travis said it made me walk funny.  It wasn’t uncomfortable, but it wasn’t a natural gait, so I had to admit that these were not suitable wedding shoes.

The Falana was a shoe I saw on someone’s wedding blog, but in white.  They had it in navy blue, darker than what I’d like, but it’s a 3″ heel so it’s shorter and easier to walk in.  Right now, a bunch of people are rolling their eyes when I say a 3″ heel is easy to walk in, but that’s probably the height of 90% of my heels and I’m in them all day at work.  Anyway, the Falana is comfortable, so I’m taking it with me to my first dress fitting (whenever that it) and I’ll have my dress altered for that heel height.  The Falana is a shoe I can wear all day long and dance in, so it’s definitely a keeper.

I didn’t like the Michaela at first, because the front part of the shoe goes straight across my foot, instead of having a curve to it.  But, Travis liked it and it’s a lot easier to walk in than the Olive.  It’s still a 4″ heel, so I’m also taking it to my dress fitting to see what it would look like to get my dress altered to the Falana but if I slipped on the Michaela later.  If it works, I’m thinking of wearing the Michaela during the wedding and changing into the Falana if my feet get tired.  Travis also thinks this is a lot of effort for something that no one will probably see.

Now, you may be wondering why I would bother wearing a shoe that I don’t think will be comfortable all night long to begin with.  Why not just wear the Falana and be done with it?  I have no sane answer for you.  All I can say is that I like how I feel with the Michaela on.  It makes no sense, but then again, fashion rarely does.  Add in wedding fashion and we’re just talking crazy, anyway.