Aug. 10 - Lisa's Musings (on shoes) and Every Day Life

Today, it's all about the shoes.

And, don't laugh, my feet got lots of TLC when I took a shower this morning, so they'd be all ready for their new adventure -- you know how feet and new shoes can be on their first day together.

A little history is needed here. A month or so ago, I decided it was time to deal with the shoe issue and after putting it off for quite a while -- yesterday worked out to be The Day.

I knew I'd be near DSW on Washtenaw between assignments, so I made plans to meet my friend, Becca, for lunch at Noodles, which was to be followed by a little shoe shopping.

She always goes with me to buy shoes.

Now, I'm no Oprah or Amelda Marcos, believe me. Shoe stores rarely call to me, but, as everyone knows, feet and ears -- they just keep growing. My cute little size 6's are now size 7.5's. And the shoes I loved three years ago, well, they've seen better days.

Plus, I found out the uncomfortable way that I really didn't have appropriate dog showing shoes. Something that actually looked cute. And stayed on my feet -- as I ran around the stand-and-eat-food ring. They needed to be something a little more fancy than sneakers and couldn't make a lot of noise as I clumped around the ring on matting and cement.

So, now I'm set. They're the black ones (still in a box with some sparkles) that look like Mary Jane's with straps that go across the top of the foot as well as the brownish ones with canvas and blue on the top. (I plan to wear those today, by the way, but more on that later.)

And, although I'd only planned to buy three pairs, Becca, who served as my personal shopper and go-fer, did her bit to convince me that the extras were A-OK. After all, she wasn't paying for them. But I know she had my best-dressed-shoe interests at heart.

She was the one who reminded me that it'd been a good three years since I bought any real shoes -- sneakers don't count -- because she'd gone with me on that excursion. And, she's usually the one who replaces my sneakers when she buys new ones for herself. Then hands me the bill. So, she's pretty well versed on my shoe inventory.

And, she'll tell you, on this shopping trip, there were pairs that were immediate hits and were placed in the take home pile. Others were on the fence, and still others that didn't feel very comfy and she dutifully returned them to their rightful place on the shoe shelves.

We had a lot of boxes going at once.

So, here's the justification for the purchases. You know about the two sets of dog showing shoes, which will see duty for every day stuff.

I have several pairs of gray pants -- which are all the rage now -- so I needed matching shoes. Although Becca said black would be perfectly fine, I didn't listen.

There were two fun purchases -- the shiny black-and-pink shoes and the black ones with bows and sequence. Just because. I wanted a pair of green ones, but they were pretty pricey and didn't fit all that well, either. So they went back.

The brown loafers were too cute to pass up. I happened to plunk myself down, looked up, and there they were -- right in front of me. Like karma. Plus, I needed another pair of brown shoes. (Oh, and Jana, eat your heart out -- she covets the little brown loafers with pink bows I bought there three years ago, and I bet she'll like these, too.)

Winter boots were just going out on the shelves when Becca spotted them. And, well, we both liked this style so much, she went home with a pair, too.

So today, as I decided what to wear, I chose which shoes first, then planned the rest of the outfit around them. Pretty smart, huh?

And yes, an equal number of old shoes, some of which aren't in bad shape, were bagged as pairs, and are ready to drop-off for donation.

Out with the old and in with the new. Shoes, that is.

So next time you see me, be sure to check out my feet, you might recognize the shoes from my blog.