Mas Zapatos, Por Favor

I lurve shoes. Not all kinds, not the lace up, hot & stuffy kind you are forced to wear in winter. But come spring, and ahhhhh. It's time for flip flops and cuuute strappy sandals. Now, here's the problem. I have Flintstone feet. Wide paddles with corn niblets for toes. And they are short too. There are just some shoes I've never been able to wear. Mainly- cuuute strappy sandals. I've tried and it just looks like I'm being tortured. So all my life I've stuck to flip flops and on the occasion that called for a dressy spring or summer shoe I've had to go up 47 sizes until I could cram my foot in, then I tried to ignore the extra inch at the front and back of my toes. Besides, the numbing caused by the straps digging into my feet was enough to keep me occupied.

Until now. My dear, dear friend Lisa told me about this store Avenue that sells a brand of shoe called Cloudwalkers in wide widths. I pulled up the website and found that they did indeed have a store about 30 minutes from me. Such cute shoes online! But would they have any in store? So Jon indulged me since we couldn't go to Wilmington and he took me shopping for shoes.

Oh. My. Word. I can barely describe the joy that was in my heart when I picked up a pair of cuuute strappy sandals in a size 9w and they fit perfectly. I didn't have to summon pagan gods or use implements of torture to get my foot in them. They slid right in. And fit. And my foot looked normal. I suddenly had toes the length of human toes! And look- my arch was in the right place! And best of all, they were so comfortable. I was standing there channeling Sex and the City and Carrie looked down at me from syndication heaven and said "Sweetie, it is your time." The other store patrons cheered and cleared a path to the register for me to purchase my newfound glorious shoes. Not really. In fact, Jon kept telling me to shush because I was getting weird looks, what with all my dramatic sighs of pleasure and relief, and shouts of Thanks be to God!

So I whipped out the credit card and brought my babies home with me. Pictured above are my zippy lilac cuuute strappy sandals. I'd like you to meet her sister black suede mule with cute flower embellishments: I'm particularly fond of these suede shoes because they were on clearance for just $9.99. Click the pic to enlarge all of the photos in this post, you'll kick yourself later if you don't. Next is pink strappy sandal, fraternal twin of lilac strappy sandal. Hey, when the shoe fits, buy it in all the colors you like. Now I present to you dressier knotted black sandal . How I've lived without you for so long I'll never know, dressy knotted black sandal! I could not sleep the night we returned home with my shoes as my mind was assembling outfits to go with each pair. Thankfully there are a handful of occasions coming up that call for cute springy shoes. Unless we get another winter blast paired with an invite to dinner it looks like suede mule will be hanging out til next winter, but I'm cool with that. I purged my closet of all ill fitting shoes and came across the shoes I wore in my sister's wedding. I love them so much, but I look like a half foot amputee in them. So I've listed them on eBay as they are too cute to go directly to Goodwill. Not that poor people shouldn't look cute too, but I did pay a good bit for them and wore them for a solid 3 hours so I wouldn't mind getting something back besides a warm feeling inside and a tax deduction.

It is taking every ounce of willpower I have not to go online and purchase every pair of Cloudwalkers in my size. Well, that and Jon telling me that I'm not Mrs. Howell and we haven't gotten to the point where I can afford to buy shoes for every outfit. A girl can dream.