Shoes

Shoes are not like they used to be. I can never seem to find any shoes worth buying at almost any store I go to. Ironically the best pairs of shoes that I have bought in the last 5 - 8 years, that last the longest and end up being ones I like wearing best, have been from Wal-Mart, but they seem to be phasing out their shoe section. It's probably less than half the size it was before. I found a cool pair of flats at Wal-Mart in Vegas, but they didn't have my size. Every other size was there but mine. Go figure.


I just don't have luck much at all in 'regular' stores, or feel like what I find is worth the money anymore. Shoes are getting cheaper looking, are less quality, and they seem to be more expensive. I went to Payless recently and the selection was pitiful and everything was expensive, at least to me. If something is good quality and can last a long time and feel comfortable then it's worth the price, but I haven't found any shoes that fit the description for me in a long time. Target seemed to be okay. They are hit or miss, but I didn't have the money at the time to get the cool oxfords they had. They didn't even had my size anyway. My size is just too average!


The best find that I have ever had for foot wear were my boots. Completely random, in a thrift store in Caldwell, Idaho - $7, brand new with padded inserts and completely awesome. I almost didn't bother because I thought they were too tight at first, but they were the boots of my dreams, the ones I had been searching for my whole life. My shoe soul mates to be precise. [No pun intended, which may only be a pun if I wrote - 'sole'.] They have been my best friends for over a year and I've worn them so much now that they are finally giving out and I don't know if I am ready to let them go just yet. I can't!

I wear them with a LOT of my looks. With leggings, with skirts, with shorts, with dresses....! They are perfect and they are the envy of the town. haha. I have been asked about where I got them and have received compliments about them almost every time I wear them somewhere.


So where can you find the best footwear? I think, though it takes some sole searching [pun intended because I couldn't help it! hahahaha!], thrift stores are where it's at. That's what I mean about the 'thrill of the hunt'. It takes time, energy, and a lot of disappointments, but just like love, you will eventually find the perfect fit. My husband [I am newly married!] found his all favorite shoes at thrift stores, each pair under $10 and they were all pretty much brand new. Actually, I found almost all of what he wore at our wedding at thrift stores. He wore his awesome Italian shoes that he found at a thrift store for $8. They were polished and looked very expensive. That's because some rich guy spent however much money on them brand new and then didn't want them anymore and donated them to the thrift store where my husband picked them up for a measly fraction of the cost!


Same for my boots. It seems that whoever had them before me hardly wore them, if at all, like they were meant for me and no one else would do.

  

"You make me happy."

- MaryAnne