On Sunday I had one of those frumpy days. A day when no matter how much time I spent on my hair, it still didn’t look right, and no matter what I put on, I still looked extra pregnant…puffy pregnant. I just couldn’t find a way to look decent no matter what I tried and I had gotten up early to give myself extra time so on top of my frumpy feeling was the knowledge that my eyes were slightly puffy from lack of sleep. I felt all shot down in my vanity and being the phlegmatic that I am I got over it and went to church. When there however, comment after comment from friends and strangers alike brought me back to some form of self appreciation. It wasn’t my hair, my eyes, my cute belly or even my glorious smile that got attention…it was my shoes. I had purchased these shoes for the wedding in Florida and really thought they were cute but as usual wasn’t too confident of my purchase until other people dubbed “cool” by some unknown standard affirmed it. It was quite a shot in the arm or foot or something, to at least have cute shoes on such a frumpy day.
There was a time in my life that I loved shoes. I remember buying shoes simply because they were adorable, knowing full well that I had nary an outfit to match. I even bought some that were too small because they didn’t have my size but I couldn’t let them sit there in the store…surely someone could use them. I was never one to spend a ton of money on them, they were usually on sale or what not and I never had a closet full of them, but I did have a high regard for them. Over the past several years I’ve lost that and traded in my shoe fancy for practicality. When the two meet it’s a happy day, but most of the time comfort wins over fashion and I’ve never regretted that. However, it was a fun lesson to see what a little vanity footwear will do for a downcast day.
I love the shoes! Sigh- I too used to have a vast shoe collection. My shoe wardrobe now consists of brown and black practical shoes and a pair of tennis shoes. I almost bought a great pair of turquoise wedge/thong/sparkly things and then decided that my current wardrobe isn’t nearly as nice as the shoes so I passed- sigh again. One day though….
And since I know that Tisra reads this blog I wanted to let her know that I’ve tried to post a comment on her last post 3 times and apparently blogger doesn’t like me and sent them somewhere into cyber space. Sorry.
I’ve never been a “shoe girl”, but have recently made a few shoe choices that make me happy. Jeans and a T-Shirt? Totally improved with high heels! I like that it is “jewelry for the feet” and will fit regardless of waistline (pregnancy- induced swollen feet excluded, of course). You’ve hit on something here, Mary. Any chance we could get great shoes to distract enough for me not to do hair or make-up altogether? 🙂
Sigh. Pregnant or not, jeans or skirt, flaky toenail polish or a perfect pedi, I love shoes! Those are some cute ones, Mary.
My daughter’s first word was “shoes” and her first acronym was “bogo.” She comes by it naturally, I guess. I do too. My grandma was known as the Imelda Marcos of Northern Wisconsin.