Rainy Days and Mondays . . . (and Shoes)

I'm dating myself with that title :-) But really, it's raining and it's Monday and I stayed home today to head off an asthma event, and I can just hear Karen Carpenter's voice in my head . . . but unlike the late Ms. Carpenter, rainy days don't get me down at all. I'm happy to see everything getting watered outside.

Today I was going to do a Three Things post - with thanks and a nod to Sheri, which is where I got the idea, but I have shoes on the brain.

When I was in Wisconsin a week ago, I bought nine pairs of shoes. No, I'm not kidding. I actually bought NINE pairs of shoes. This is not quite as ridiculous as it sounds. First of all, unlike many women, I don't have a lot of shoes. I have a pair to walk to work in, a pair for walking on the treadmill, and pair of sandals that I love but the heels are now too high, and a few pairs of dress shoes, all of which are so old that they either don't fit anymore (yes, I used to wear an 8 1/2 and now I wear a 9 - go figure) or they hurt my feet. So, when my friends took me to Black Earth, Wisconsin to The Shoe Box, I flipped out. I have never seen so many shoes in one place in my life :-D I really wanted another pair of walking shoes, like the black New Balance I walk to work in only in white, but I must have a very popular shoe size because they didn't have my size. At all. Not in pretty much any athletic shoe.

I did manage to find a nice pair of Nikes in the SALE ROOM, though, which was a plus, and I will be able to use them to switch off on the treadmill. (I mean, you're supposed to have more than one pair anyway so your feet don't weird out.) Since I was in Wisconsin, I really wanted a pair of Minnetonka moccasins - the ones we all had as kids with the beaded thunderbirds on the toes . . . they did have those in my size. :-) And I got a really cute pair of Dansko Mary Janes that I have been wanting for a really long time. So I left with three. . . OK three is not six . . .

The Shoe Box has a branch in Baraboo, which was on my way home on Saturday, and even though Joyce and Kent said it wasn't as good as the big store in Baraboo, I swung the car in in the hopes that they might have the original white New Balance shoes, in my size, that I wanted to begin with, which is where the other six pairs come in. Score!!! Yes, they did have the shoes I originally wanted! And while I was there, I figured I would look at dress shoes because, like I said, all the ones I have are old (really old) and they hurt my feet.

OK - so do you know how hard it is to find low-heeled work shoes? I've already dated myself with the Karen Carpenter reference (in for a penny, in for a pound). Gone are the days of wearing 2-1/2" or 3" heels. I'm 5' 8" tall, and have been since high school - I actually always wished I was about 5' 10" so I always wore platforms and higher heels. Now I wear a lot of Danskos because I get the height without the pain. Anyway - I digress. I found a pair of black pumps (Trotters) with 1-1/4" heels. Hot Dog!!! So I got them in black and in brown, which covers me for work and pretty much any occasion for the next four or five years or so. Then I found a really nice pair of dressy black trouser shoes, also very low-heeled Trotters. They will get a lot of wear, mostly at work.

And then, all hell broke loose. . . There weren't very many people in the store on Saturday morning, and the girl had a lot of time to help me, and she didn't seem to mind at all that I wanted to try on pretty much every shoe in the store . . . I found the cutest woven leather loafers, perfect little flats - also Trotters (clearly my new footwear of choice!), and they are red. Yes. RED. Not burgundy, not cordovan, RED. Little Red Radio Flyer Wagon RED!!! Wheeeeee!!!!!

And then, I saw these cowboy boots. Real, honest to goodness Durango cowboy boots with the Cuban heels and stitching on the toes and everything, that only come up to your ankle . . . and I tried them on and they looked so hot with my jeans that looking in that stupid mirror that only shows you from the knees down, I could actually imagine that I was a cowgirl, not the um . . . mature (ahem) woman who lives in the suburbs and works in the city that I am . . . Hell yes, they came home with me too.

So, for a week I have had six pairs of shoes that need to be treated with Venetian Cream before I can wear them. My mom always said you had to use Venetian Cream to guard against the leather cracking. Don't know if that's true, but it's a habit I've never broken. :-) So, today, on this rainy Monday, I have a date with my shoes and the Venetian Cream in the sunroom (kinda sounds like Clue - no harm no foul Clue: A, in the sunroom, with the Venetian Cream :-D ).

I hope your Monday is full of gentle surprises. :-)