the great shoe caper

The Spozo Maravilloso has been venemous towards my shoes for a year now. Not that I loved them - or even liked them, but they were functional and didn't let the rain get my feet wet. Apparently, the SM took it as a personal affront that his wife would be running around in shoes like that. He also laments that I don't have any pointy-toed shoes. So after many months of plotting, he finally succeeded in shoving me out of the house (sans kidlets!) to San Francisco with a woman that he trusted to get me some fashionable shoes.

Luckily, the woman he chose is very fun to go shoe-shopping with, and we were looking forward to hanging out (sans kidlets!) She whisked me into her favorite shoe shop (Steve Madden) and started picking out shoes for me to try on. Something strange has happened with my feet - or the sizing, because I used to be at least a 9, but I was fitting into eights and eight-and-a-halfs.

I shocked even her by asking to try on the really three-inch heels instead of the dinky ones. Even more shocking is that they felt MORE comfortable.

I dithered about spending so much on shoes and also about the SM liking them so much that she called him to wrench the promise out of him that since she approved of them, he would be happy no matter what. She also divulged some top secret information: I could go over budget and he wouldn't care. So I did. By a shocking amount. I felt encouraged that another girl in the shop bought the same pair of shoes as me - without even consulting my friend!

What really soared my fashionista soul occured in Payless Shoe Source.

I wanted some real walking shoes, too, so we decided to check out Payless (which, both of us reckon has to be radically different than the other Paylesses around - maybe being in Nordstrom's building has something to do with it). She pointed out (in her Canadianness) a couple pairs of suitable "runners," but I was drawn to some green with lavendar trim and laces beauties.

They are completely impractical but very fashionable (seems to go hand in hand), and get this: she ended up buying the same pair (in a different size, of course). I thought it charming that she asked my permission to get the same pair - apparently true fashionista code demands that friends can't buy the same thing. Luckily, I have a fairly mild strain of fashionistaness, so I took it as a compliment instead of an affront.

My only advice to shoe-shoppers: don't wear the fashionable shoes immediately to hike up San Francisco hills. Blisters may result.

So now I can't wear my fashionable shoes for a couple days.

Darn.