If The Shoe Fits

I love presies!

Suz, 10N

Especially the ones I buy myself. The ones that involve heels. The ones I bought because my buddy Liesl gave me a GC to Zappos. The ones I bought to congratulate myself on living another year.

There's a lot to be said for buying shoes online. Oh sure, you don't get the instant gratification that you get when you go in a store and try on the perfect pair, but since most stores don't carry my size, that's not relevant. Anyway, I enjoy perusing all the shoes available to me. I laugh at the ugly ones and shiver in delight over the pretty ones. I make long wish lists filled with shoes I may never buy, but like to fool myself that I will sometime.

There's that moment of making the decision to buy. Click. Size: 10N. Click. Color: Black. Click. How do you want to pay? Visa. Click. Is the shipping address the same as the billing address? Yes. Click. Complete purchase. Click. Then,the next day, you receive an email telling you your shoes have shipped, and a tracking number so you can follow their progress to your house. I knew my shoes were delivered at 12:55 PM today. All afternoon at work, I thought about them. I thought about them on the train. I also thought about those Jimmy Choos. A girl's gotta have her dreams.

Bruce picked me up at the train station. We get to the house, and he says, "oh your shoes are here". I didn't tell him I knew already. I sped into the house and picked up the box. I grabbed a pair of scissors to cut the tape. Bruce is standing by, saying "don't get excited, if they don't fit, you'll be pissed". I ignored him, and opened up the box inside. My shoes were nestled in the box in individual little cloth bags. So special. I gently lifted one from the box. Bruce starts rolling his eyes and saying "just try them on!" I gave him The Look. I had to explain to him that half the fun of a gift was opening it. And with new shoes, bought online, especially. The anticipation makes me all trembly. I took the shoe out of it's little cloth bag to admire it. This is almost as important as trying them on. How do they feel? What is the structure like? How does the leather feel? Do they live up to how they looked online? They did. They were better.

By this time, Bruce has lost interest and has gone back to playing Madden 2005 on the Xbox. I try the shoe on. It fits like a glove. It's perfect. I try the other one on. It, too, is perfect. I commence prancing around the living room in them. I interrupt Bruce's game to make him look at them. His pronouncement: "hey I like those". Duh. Of course you do, dear. I prance around some more. Then I IM Liesl to tell her how fabulous they are.

I've taken them off, and put them back in their little cloth bags. I can't wait to wear them. I'm already figuring out what to wear them with.

Today's shoe. My present, of course.

Vaneli 'Caylee'