But before I get to shoes, a huge shout-out to Shan of Unfinished Object for sending me some great handmade coasters. I brought one to work to use at my desk, the other three are at home.

Okay now- Shoes. The joy of every girl’s life but also the bane of her existence half the time. I’ve got a lot of shoes that are several years old, because I wear them until they die, and some of them, even after they should have been retired because I just love them too much, or don’t have a suitable replacement.

I fear breaking an ankle every time I wear the black shoes- they’re falling apart but I couldn’t find another pair of black slides that I liked. It’s funny too because I bought them to wear with a Halloween costume and never thought I’d wear them again. The red ones have a split sole, have for a year, and yet I keep them in my closet. I’m actually considering seeing if they can be repaired, which seems like overkill when the shoes were only $15 to begin with, but that’s how cute I still think they are. Not pictured are a pair of grey suede clogs that I also love love love but are dying- no surprise since I’ve had them since 1999. I haven’t worn them in ages but I’ve hung onto them.
The new wave has arrived, and for each pair pictured below, a pair is being retired. (Is it just me or is it really hard to think about throwing your favorite shoes in the trash?)

The red shoes in front are the current bane of my existence. Originally, I bought a pair of black wingtip style maryjanes, but after a month in the box I decided I wasn’t going to wear them and took them back. But the Shoe Pavilion by my house didn’t carry that shoe, and so I had to go back to the one by my office. In the meantime, I went to the BOGO sale at my local Payless because I was in desperate need of some simple black slides. After wading through the miles of fugly, I managed to find 2 pair. Did you know that Payless gives a AAA discount? 10%! So I got 10% of my first pair of shoes and 50% off my second. I justified this by spending only a couple of dollar more than I’d be getting back when I returned the maryjanes.
I went to the Shoe Pavilion by my office yesterday, as the last day in my 30-days to return, and discovered I’d misread the date and was past the date I could return them. I had to exchange them. After wandering for way too long, I finally found a totally cute pair of red shoes, and ZOMG Steve Madden! On Sale! But by that point I was sick of shopping so I didn’t do more than make sure it’d go on my foot. Then I got them home and wore them around my room, and couldn’t for the life of me figure out why my foot kept coming out. Hmmm, how about because they’re size 11? I wear a 9-10 depending on the shoe. I’m headed back to SP for the third time in 3 days on my lunch, praying they have the same shoes in my size, because I really really like them. If I can’t find 10s, I’m actually trying to figure out how to make the 11s work. Yeah, I’ve got issues.