Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Shoes: It's a Love/Hate Thing

Shoes and me have a grudging understanding. I promise not to wear ‘em unless I have to and they promise to be nice to me when I do. Needless to say, I spend most of my summer days barefooted and winter days sock-footed.

As I type this, I’m sitting at my computer wearing my socks. I don’t even wear slippers.

Why?

I have no idea.

I’m guessing it has something to do with growing up a wild child, seventh of eight kids, running around in small falls central Minnesota trying to keep up my brothers. Tomboy. Yep, that was me.

In any case, I do wear shoes and own a bunch of them, I just don’t go all goo-goo over them like a lot of women I know, my sister included. She starts listing off names of the various styles, Mary Janes, Espadrilles, Mules, and my eyes start glazing over. I didn’t even know what a sling-back was until I was in my thirties.

I know. Sad.

The truth is, I don’t hate shoes. Honest. I actually love shoes. At least, I love how they look. Doesn’t matter if we’re talking sandals, high heels, boots, clogs, slippers, pumps, you name it.

The problem is that I hate how they feel. Rubbing, crunching, pinching.

Oh, I’ll put up with it, on those days I’m feeling more vain than normal. Days I have someplace to go, which isn’t all that often, being a writer. Oh, and conference in July. That’s the only time where you’ll catch me wearing heels four to five days in a row. I pay for it when I get home, though.

My favorite shoes are an old pair of half-boots, black suede with a pointy toe that I bought year and years ago, didn’t wear them for a long time, and now are suddenly back in style. I’ve reheeled them three times.

They fit my feet like gloves, look sexy with jeans, and have a little bit of heel, so I make noise when I walk (which I secretly love to do). Do you have a favorite pair of shoes?

Oh, and just for fun, try to match the name with the picture: Fergie, Sarah Jessica Parker, Angelina Jolie, Eva Longoria, Jennifer Lopez, and Charlize Theron.

Look at the height on those heels. Ouch! That's all I have to say.

18 comments:

Unknown said...

Helen, I LOVE shoes. AS a young girl shoe shopping with my mom was always a treat-- she and I were at our best while shopping together. And I still LOVE shoes and shopping for them-- except the wait for the pair to come from the stock room. sigh.

But I also do barefoot most of the time these days-- or nearly barefoot, in thongs or sandals. Heels? The only time I wear them is at conference or a wedding. At funerals I go for small heels or flats-- lots of standing.

As I've gotten older, I'm more picky about the kind of shoes and I'm more interested in comfort than style. The really pointy shoes- ugh. The really roundy toes on so many heels these days, ugh. I just went shoe shopping recently and came home with two pairs of knockout flats. And I had heels in mind when I went!

I have suspicions about the feet in the pics. I suspect the last one is Angelina. Don't know why I think that, I just do. Can't wait to find out if I'm right.

And. . . who's Fergie. . . and why should I recognize her feet?

Helen Brenna said...

Shopping with Mom - nice memories, Betina. My daughter and I were just out Sunday night.

And, ooooh, you're right about the last ones being Angelina! One down five to go.

Fergie is the lead singer of the Black Eyed Peas. I could name a few songs, but it's too early in the morning! LOL

Michele Hauf said...

Yeah, for barefoot! All summer long, and winter, too, unless I'm heading outside, then I force myself to put on socks before shoes.

But I love high heels, I just never have chance to wear them. The higher and pointier toed, the better. I drool over Louboutins, the red-soled shoes designed by the Parisian dude. Oprah wears them a lot, and when I see them, I get so distracted I loose interest in what she's saying and focus mainly on her shoes. Does that make me a shoe-aholic? Or just an appreciator of pretty things?

Playground Monitor said...

Does anybody else remember that little x-ray box you put your feet into to make sure your Buster Browns fit correctly?

I like shoes too -- as long as they are comfy and those high heels ain't. Even at conference I wear flats (except for party and Rita nights and I've shopped carefully for black high-heeled sandals that don't kill my feet).

Currently I'm battling arthritis in my big toe (need to call the doc and schedule the surgery for that too). It limits what styles I can wear because the shoe can't be too tight and it can't come right across that joint. Mostly I wear a pair of New Balances, or Clark's clog or my fuzzy, memory insole bedroom scuffs. In summer, it's barefoot or flipflops, baby!

Speaking of Louboutins... I read where Suri Cruise was going to get her first pair. Sheesh!

Marilyn

Playground Monitor said...

Forgot the shoe guesses:

1. Sarah Jessica Parker
2. Eva Longoria
3. Jennifer Lopez
4. Fergie
5. Charlize Theron
6. Angelina Jolie

Marilyn

Debra Dixon said...

I'm barefoot right now. Stay that way most of the day. I do have crocs that I put on anytime I'll be standing on a hard floor like the kitchen or even the quilt studio (you don't put carpet in a room filled with fabric fibers!)

I do love pretty shoes. I love heels but at home I just don't put on shoes.

Christie Ridgway said...

I LOVE shoes! But right now I'm wearing my Ugg boots and I'll be switching to my running shoes and thne back to my Ugg boots after I go the gym and shower.

I bought a cute pair of black boots with heels to wear with jeans last year and they so hurt the ball of my feet. I tried to put in those cushion thingies but that helped not at all. It's always the ball of my foot that hurts.

However, I like wearing heels because Surfer Guy is over a foot taller than me. Plus, they make my legs look longer.

I can't guess whose shoes those are, but I really, really want the first and last pairs.

Helen Brenna said...

Michele, sounds like a shoe fetish to me. LOL! And in pulling pictures for this blog I discovered you are not alone.

Marilyn!! You got all 6 right. Man, and I thought I'd made this one tougher than Betina's from last week. Darn it.

I'm surprised by how many of us are barefoot folk. Deb, are those crocs really that comfortable? They sure don't look like it.

Christie, my daughter has Ugg boots and loves them. Those warm, fluffy insides. I'm thinking I'd like those. A lot.

Playground Monitor said...

Helen, Helen, Helen.

Ya gotta change the name of the .jpg files. All I had to do was put my mouse over each photo and it told me whose feet it was.

Er... uh... I just gave away my secret, huh? And here y'all thought I was brilliant -- or had some sort of celebrity foot fetish. *g*

Marilyn

Helen Brenna said...

LOL, Marilyn!!

Gawd, I'm an idiot. I did, though, think you were brilliant. You should've never enlightened us.

Cindy Gerard said...

I LOVE Shoes!! But the older I get the harder it is to play in heels. Like many of us though, if the occassion demands it, I will suffer through it.
On of the puppied (the devil dog) just chewed up my favorite pair. Guess that means there's a shopping trip in my immediate future.
As I write this I'm wearing a pair of those aloe footies from Bath and Body. Anyone have any of those? They are to die for. Soft soft soft.
Heaven.

Unknown said...

My knees don't like high heels as much as they used to. Maybe I've put too many miles on my feet. Or maybe those shoes are just designed as a rather sinister but sexy form of torture. Either way, I habitually avoid them. But there's nothing like them to make a leg look good, so...yeah, I'll be wearing them at the very next conference I go to. Me and everyone else in the world.

EllenToo said...

I HATE shoes. But then I have small feet and can rarely find shoes that actually fit. No way could I wear high heels (I'd be standing on the ends of my toes.) I started wearing athletic shoes about 10 years ago since I was standing almost all day on a linoleum covered concret floor. Now I wear Reboks or nothing.

Debra Dixon said...

Helen-- The crocs are kind of ugly but they are as easy to slip on as flip flops and they're comfortable enough that I can work on hard floors in them without my plantar fasciitis foot giving me fits.

I can trudge to the mail box in rainy weather and if they get dirty, I just throw them in the shower and hose 'em down. Love 'em.

They're my version of "house shoes."

Helen Brenna said...

Cindy, I lost several pairs of shoes when my Aussie was a puppy. A couple were new and favorites!

I saw those aloe booties at B&B. As I get older, my feet seem to get dryer and more calloused. I'll bet those booties work wonders.

Lois, you're so tall with gorgeous long legs. You, sweetie, could get by just fine without heels.

Ellen, you're probably one of those people who can try on display shoes, right? My big, floppy 8 1/2s hate you!

Deb - cute colors too! And I've seen them now with fuzzy linings. Just for us Minnesotans. LOL

Dara Edmondson said...

I love shoes too - but I have heel spurs and must only wear ones my orthotics fit into. Not real sexy! I wish I could still wear the shoes that contributed to my foot problems, but my foot doctor would shoot me!

Anonymous said...

Anyone ever see Jeff Foxworthy's comedy stint where he talks about how many pairs of shoes his wife has and how many he has? "There's only one reason to wear high heels ... " and he walks around on tiptoes pretending to be a big, burly truck driver wearing heels ... I'm a barefoot person to the point where if I'm at a friend's house, I'm just as likely to be barefoot as I am at home ... bless them, they all put up with it. And in Florida, it seems silly to wear slippers most of the time, but my best friend's mother gave me a pair of mouse slippers (not made from mouse, like bunny slippers, but ... well, mice instead) that are the softest, warmest, cushioniest things you ever saw. Perfect for those days when I've been on my feet on a cement floor most of the day. But now I'm going to have to go look for the aloe footies.

Sorry, but there's a point at which heels are just too high -- some of those hurt to look at.

Lorena

Samantha Hunter said...

I don't own a pair of heels and won't not even for the conference. Take me in flats or clogs, boots or Docs, or don't take me at all. ;) LOL Okay, sandals, too, but flat ones.

I really have no attachment to shoes outside of comfort. If anything hurts, it's out.

My mother loved shoes and would wear heels -- used to get after me for not wearing them because she said they made your ankles look better... But you know I just don't care. LOL

Sam