Day 10- Perfect Boots

Here we have the at least the fourth pair of what to the untrained eye appear to be the same exact boots. They are a fraction of the boot subsection in my closet that has caused me to get to the back door in two different boots more than once. In my world there is an infinite search for these boots or something close to them. The search does not end when I locate them, locating them simply means there will be one more pair of not quite perfect "Perfect Boots" in my closet. I say not quite perfect, because likely the sole is too thick, the sole too thin, they are too narrow, they are too wide, they do not stay up or they melt like the Wicked Witch of the West if the humidity gets too high, god forbid a drizzle occurs AND you might only imagine what snow and salt will do to them. By the time the are literally thread bare garbage, with the lining hanging out of the hole in the back where the heal used to be, guess what I am over the short comings and love, love, love them but they are discontinued, therefore no longer available. After the first cheap pair of  "I love these, I can wear them every day, with anything, even at the beach in July (not kidding), black knee high, perfect boots, boots" fell apart because they are constructed of some kind of man made fuzzy stuff (which may actually be related to tissue paper) I was on a mission to find a decent pair. Boots made out of something slightly more durable than cardboard would be spectacular. Plenty that look similar out there on the net, really not hard to find at all, but they seemed to be either $25 pairs (that start to disintegrate as soon as you remove the plastic wrap) and $600 pairs (that can actually manage to look down their own nose at plastic wrap... also at me because I can only dream of being in their tax bracket) and shockingly enough NOTHING in between. Finally I found these in winter 2012, they were not super cheap or crazy expensive, given that they have an 8 comfort rating and will be likely worn until I can see my sock straight through bottom totally worth the price still "you get what you pay for"... I must not have paid quite enough...so this is how they roll...

*Wear  ?? (July 2013)
Circa Jan. 2012

Cost  *90

Comfort 8

Pair 12

(As of 6-19-18 MIA, Guessing Trashed) 

Day 9- No I Was Not Plotting A Career Change

Now these are some boots! They are not now, nor do I believe they ever were in style but about 10 years ago I "had to have them". There was no way to creatively justify the cost because in all seriousness what would be the "occasion" for these boots? Never the less I had to have them and after a few days of thinking about them low and behold I was given money for my Birthday and told not to spend it on bills or anything I would buy for myself...JACKPOT! I ran right back to the store (Hot Topics I believe) and bought the boots. I have searched for the appropriate occasion to wear them but never really found it. I have called them goth, I have worn them on Halloween, I have even tried to pass them off as rain boots, still in reality they are simply an exercise in creativity because it take s a lot of creativity to conjure an outfit worthy of these boots that does not look trashy! In spite of the fact that there is no practical purpose for them, it takes a brave 40 year old to wear them out in public. Problem: every time I wear them the whole platform bottom falls off causing a trip to the shoe repair shop and I keep paying to have them fixed, because I find them fascinating...besides anything that looks like this and still gets a 6 for comfort rating deserves to go on for at least another 10 years!

Wear *6 *(July 2013)
Circa 2003

Cost  *60

Comfort 6

Pair 11

Day 8-Straight From Italy

Nothing like getting VM saying "You need to respond to this message ASAP, because I am shopping in Italy and I don't have your shoe size. If you don't respond soon I won't be here anymore". Sweet Mother Of Kangaroo Feet! When was this message left? What if I missed her? What if she is back on the ship? What if she doesn't have service and can't pick up her messages?
Yep not even kidding! All that stress over someone else picking out an unknown shoe, in an unknown style, in a foreign land. Well all that stress was not for nothing :)
My dear friend returned from Italy with this little gifty for me in her suitcase (I believe it was around Christmas 2011). These little cuties have been worn twice, get a comfort rating of 6 and cause no blisters! If you have been following this experiment you have seen some of the things I have put my feet in and can likely appreciate how excited I am about shoes that don't blister anything!

Wear 2 *(July 2013)
Circa Christmas 2011
Cost  Gift
Comfort 6
Pair 10

Day 00x2- Almost More Trouble Than They’re Worth but Not Quite

These were also worn the week before the official start of the game. They are circa 2011, they have a comfort rating of 4 and a pain in the @$$ rating of about a 12. Every time I wear them I forget why I quit wearing them because well really they are just so darn cute! This was the 3rd or 4th wear, maybe this time I won't forget.

These were the direct result of a DSW coupon, you know... "I have a coupon",...so "I have to use it",... because "it saves me 10 dollars". INSTEAD OF "I am about to spend 50 dollars, I never would have spent",... because "I had no need to set foot in that store" (ever) and "I don't need anything in there". NOPE the hamster wheel landed on  "I'mma save 10 dollars!" "Wheeee".

I bought the shoes, got home and realized they had no zipper pulls on the back zippers (the ones that have an actual point, like holding the shoe on). The store did not have another pair, I could not take the pulls off of the side without ruining the shoes and I would never find an exact match. Notice that "return them and do without them" never crossed my mind. I tried to wear them without the pulls and I did manage to get the zipper up. I can't tell you how delighted I was half way through the day when I realized the zippers popped open from the middle and I may need power tools to remove the shoes from my feet (while in some kind of yoga position trying not to cut off my foot!).

Needless to say I did get them off and I had to start a mission to find new pulls. I searched far and wide and half of the internet. In the end it took months and I paid half what I paid for the shoes for the ONLY plain, black, might be able to make them work, luggage zipper pulls (that were of course too big) I could find on the world wide EARTH. I was so delighted to have them ALL (? I am sure some of you can see where this is going) straightened out and back in the attic they went. Some time later when I thought "so cute, I will wear those today"...yep half way through the day...I looked down and zipper is closed at both ends and not in the middle. Some things are on sale for a reason but still LOVE them!!!

Wear 3 or 4 *(June 2013)
Circa 2011

Cost  *60

Comfort  4

Pair #9

* =Best Guess

Day 00- Told You I Am Not Big on Animal Print…Uhhhh

Here we have yet another reason my husband needs to disable the server before he goes to bed, midnight internet shopping produces... well...these... in a box... at the front door. I'm not pretending there is an excuse for them, it was an impulse buy. I have worn them twice; both times I think I was trying to prove to myself that the purchase was not a mistake. Really? Who am I kidding? If you saw them in a picture you might think "hooker shoes?", if you saw the cheapness of the fabric in person it's even worse. Beating these into submission (out of looking like floozy footwear that is) is no task for an amateur. I am probably going to put myself through wearing them again some time  AND can not even tell you why I would do that to myself! Cheap and Ugly but sort of fun. Funny when I don't even get it myself. The reason that they did not get an actual Day # is because I wore them the week before the shoe experiment started and I just can't bear to wear them again any time soon. Besides I wouldn't want people to think (though incorrectly) I already broke the rules by wearing a pair twice AND they are not exactly subtle so they would not go unnoticed. Wow that was creative justification in reverse... but I am satisfied that I don't have to wear them again now.

At least they can be worn thigh high OR slouchy...because somehow that is a consolation!

Wear 2 (June 2013)
August 2011

Cost  * Approx. $25

Comfort  4

Pair #8

* =Best Guess

Day 7- The Cover Shoes

Have you ever purchased something that almost took down your whole rationalization technique and structure because even you realize you just crossed the line into ridiculousness? The kind of purchase you could not even justify to yourself, but tossed all reason aside and bought it anyway. Have you had to pretend that you didn't do it? I don't mean the kind of "pretend you did not do it" where you leave it in the trunk of the car, sneak it in when the husband is out, wait a couple of weeks to wear it and then say "this old thing" when he notices. I mean the kind of "pretend you did not do it" where you have made yourself sick, you can not face the item, you need to forget it exists but still can't make yourself return it. The kind of "pretend you did not do it" where you have to deprive yourself of lunches to try to justify this stupid stupid purchase but still you refuse to un-do it. The kind of "pretend you did not do it" where you hide it from yourself and pray you can forget about it, while you try to figure out how to pay the electric bill...which you will do by skipping two meals a day all month.
Here is my "pretend I did not do it" :) Beauteous aren't they?
I saw these shoes at Nordstroms in November of 2011 and I left without them, by December I could not take it anymore and this thing where we can shop from the laptop, in bed, on a whim, in the middle of the night is BAD! I had no event to wear them to at this point that was in November, I am still cussing the super sweet sales girl that showed them to me in the first place and was trying to figure out if she could pick up a pair in King of Prussia in my size and deliver them to me, I still knew I should not buy them and  I could not afford them but they would be arriving in two days.
If it had not been for the small marble slab I dropped on my foot one week before my black tie event back in November I never would have seen them, because of that I had to go shopping for "comfy formal shoes" (yes I said that) and I know that sounds like regret...but it's not. I think it may have been worth the year it took my toe to heal because if it had not happened I never would have found my beautiful shoes. It was probably over six months before I actually wore them... to work (yes to work) and back in the box and into the attic they went. Really it's a sickness. On day 7 of the experiment I wore them to work again (wear #2) and on a weekend in Vegas shortly thereafter (wear #3) I got stuck in them (could not get back to the other shoes). With a comfort rating of 2, these babies can make 3 blisters and 2 cuts at the same time, they hurt even while sitting! Imagine the joys of getting stuck in them for 6 hours and walking 4 plus miles! I think there was a visible nerve ending hanging out of the side of my right ankle and I barely cared. There did however come a point that night when I had to take them off (to go into an ice bar) and when I came out I could not make my brain order my hands to help put them back on my feet...how did I pull that off you ask...well that's another post.

Wear 2 (June 2013)
December 2011
Cost $225
Comfort  2
Pair 7
* =Best Guess

Day 6-“The Best Gifts Come In Shoe Boxes”

These were a gift from friends (that understand me) for Christmas 2011 and this was the first time I wore them (May 10th 2013). The style name is Witchy but they look oddly professional with the right outfit... still I feel like I should be handing out very shiny apples when I wear them. Only a 3 star comfort rating but that is about par for the pumps.

Wear 1 (June 2013)
December 2011

Cost  ?

Comfort  3

Pair #6