Lately

I got nothin. 

Nothin to say. 

Nothin to write. 

Well, I do have several things I'd like to write, but they would all take alot of thought and emotion and I just don't seem to have enough energy.  I think I just need a long long sabbatical. 

But, just in time to shake off a little of the burgeoning Christmas/Winter blues, my sister posted this video on her fb page.  I felt so much lighter after watching.  Watch it.  It'll cheer you up too.

It's all about the shoes

Admittably, I hate to shop. As I have mentioned before I was not born with the shopping gene. Shopping for shoes is no exception. I have several pairs now but only because I haven't thrown away ones that are 10 years past their prime.

I refuse to buy or wear cruel shoes for the sake of fashion.

OK, yeah I know, I've never been about fashion in anything. I just want to wear things that are comfortable. I have some lower high heel shoes that I still have from when I had to wear suits to work, but I never wear them now.

I also refuse to spend alot of money on shoes. In fact, when I went to buy new tennis shoes for all of our hiking in Italy, I was prepared to spend another whopping $50. We went to Dick's Sporting Goods and this wonderful sales lady helped me. I told her what I wanted and she was willing to show me exactly what I asked for, but she politely encouraged me to try some walking shoes. They were double the price. I had a cheap shoe on one foot and a walking shoe on the other. The difference was amazing. I splurged and bought the "expensive" shoe. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know that fashionistas would not consider that expensive, but it is the most I have ever spent on any shoe in my life. Period. After walking 6 to 10 hours every day for 2 weeks I can assure you it was the best $100 I have ever spent. I will never again buy cheap tennis shoes.

If you ever travel to Italy and are not on a Donald Trump budget, visiting exclusive restaurants, don't bother packing any shoes other than good walking shoes. Every road, sidewalk, step, etc is incredibly uneven. I read this week where Tom Hanks said the hardest thing to do in the movie Angels & Demons was running. He talks about how uneven every step was and it was a wonder he didn't break his ankle.

So I was so fascinated with the choice of some women's shoes, I decided to take some pictures of the shoes I saw.






















The first picture was taken at the Vatican. Zooming in you can see her ankle is turned slightly. The second was taken just outside of San Gimignano, Tuscany. The streets look like this:

Notice this woman is long past caring about how she looks in her shoes. Uphill, downhill, stones, bricks, rocks, boulders, steps, ramps. The only area that was flat was Venice, but it was NOT even. Now you know why all the Italian women slowly stroll down the street arm-in-arm.

So, as a finale to this discussion, around 6:30 p.m. tonight, we were playing with our grandkids, I happened to look down at my feet.

Ummmm, I simply cannot defend myself here. Only photographic evidence will suffice. I took a picture below after I got home.

Now you have to realize I had not changed my shoes from work all day.



And the really sad thing is that the back is even worse. The heels are different heights and the shoe on the right side has no back on the ankle side. The shoe on the left is a regular shoe.

Luckily the color at least matched. The funny thing is that no one at work noticed. And don't think they were just being polite, they would have loved to razz me all day had it been seen.

At least they were both cheap and comfortable. Isn't that what shoes are supposed to be for?

OK OK, I'll show you the back just to convince you.

That Shopping Gene

Hey, don't ask me to explain it.

You know what I mean, that women love to shop. It's the basis of nearly every male/female joke that you ever hear.

Ok, I'll admit it. I was born with a genetic shopping defect. I have had to spend my entire life living with the outcastedness of being shopping disabled. It's not that I don't love having new clothes, I do.

But.

I absolutely HATE to shop. I swear, I'd rather go to the dentist (which I also hate) than to have to go to one of those dreadful malls. Nothing bores me more. I don't even understand those poor husbands who are forced to be dragged along and dutifully follow their shopping addicted wives around the stores carrying the bags. I still remember watching the evening news one night on Black Friday and there was my own brother, laden with shopping bags, the most prominent one a BIG Victoria Secret bag. I mean, how embarrassing is that? Ok, I don't think he was embarrassed, but I know a bunch of men watching were cringing and being glad they weren't spotted by the dreaded Channel 13 camera.

I literally have to start getting embarrassed about the clothes I wear before I force myself to go shopping. It's even worse now that most of corporate America has gone corporate casual and many places allowing jeans every day. Years ago, I wore the suits and the cutsey little bow ties women wore in the eighties. The heels and hose. I had to shop more to keep the business look that was expected. I don't think any offices wear that stuff anymore except maybe law offices.

For a while one of my shopping sisters-in-law became my personal shopper. I loved it. She would show up with a bag full of new clothes and I would try them on and give her a check. The first person I would hire if I won the lottery would be a personal shopper. My other sister-in-law who also loves to shop has a stash of new stuff in her closet. I make sure when I visit that I carry the "wrong" purse for the season. Every time, she gives me "that look", goes to her closet and pulls out a still price-tagged purse. Works everytime.

I have a friend who has a map of every outlet mall in the US and her goal is to visit every single one, marking each one off as she goes.

Even my own husband likes to shop more than I do. A few years back we visited Key West along with my brother and his wife. Mark and I took a boat trip where he scuba dived and I snorkeled. You should have seen the look on the "captain's" face when I corrected him that we were not husband and wife, that Mark's wife and my husband were out shopping together.

Since I will be heading to Italy in just a few short weeks, I did force myself to spend an hour or so shopping last weekend for some clothes that wouldn't embarrass America while we are there. It was nice to wear something new to work, but I don't plan on repeating the process until these look ratty again, maybe in 3 or 4 years, I'm hoping.

One caveat. My shopping handicap does not extend to bookstores or kitchen supply stores. I can spend HOURS in either of those.

UPDATE: The picture below was added because someone who shall remain unnamed wanted to see the face of the woman in the above photo. Enjoy.