New Shoes

Post by brittanydyan

February 14, 2010 at 8:48 pm

It’s difficult to find two words that bring me greater joy than new shoes.  It doesn’t even matter what kind of shoes.  When I get a new pair, I must wear them ASAP.  I love the look and the smell of new shoes.  I love the way they make me feel.  I love the way they almost always fit (as opposed to clothing).  I can hardly stop looking at my new shoes when I wear them for the first time.

This is the tale of two new pair of shoes that couldn’t be more different. Both pair of shoes were birthday presents in a sense.  The one pair was a birthday present from Will, and the other was sort of an annual gift to myself.

The Gray Suede Pumps

I laid my eyes on these shoes while browsing the Urban Outfitters website and mentioned that I liked them very much.  However, this isn’t a shoe that I would normally buy for myself.  Not really practical enough.  However, my attentive husband (who has no problem with purchasing shoes for style rather than practicality)  was listening to me and ordered them for my birthday present.  At least they are a practical color, which hasn’t always been the case (see patent leather banana-yellow heels).

As new shoes go, these are stylish, elegant, and fit into one of my new goals.  I’ve been trying to dress more professionally this semester when I attend the class where I serve as a T.A.  It’s a respect thing.  The pumps should go well with dress pants, skirts, and dresses.  The only problem is that I haven’t been able to wear them yet!  The piles of snow and days of melting snow equal a recipe for disaster for all-suede-like shoes.  I guess I’ll have to wait until things dry out.

The Nike Running Sneakers

The rule of thumb for running shoes is that they only last (stay in good support condition) for 500 miles.  Last year Will bought me some “running” shoes, which are really “cross-training” shoes for my birthday.  They have served me well this past year, but I think they have given me their 500 miles.  We finally made it over to the Potomac River Running store last night to test out their running shoe technology.  I wanted a shoe that would give me the support I needed and that would protect me from injury—and we’d heard good things about PR.

So, I stood on this little machine that measured the pressure in my feet, and I ran on the treadmill so the sales guy could look at the particulars of my gait.  He told me a bunch of stuff about how I run nearly neutrally and have a slight arch.  He could have been telling me a bunch of bull, and I wouldn’t have known it.  He brought out a few pairs that fit my foot type, and all were nice selections.  I chose the Nike shoes because of the wide toe and the feather-light feel.

Unlike the suede pumps, I debuted the running shoes this afternoon.  And, I ran faster than normal.  Not sure if that should be attributed to the shoes or because I have just missed running and was raring to go.

***For those who don’t share a passion for shoes, I apologize for going on for quite a while about something a bit silly.