June 29 - sad but true

What: size 7.5 brown 2.5 inch heeled sandals
From: I think Nine West, and I think Hecht's
Purchased: very early in my DC life - '94, '95, possibly '96
Cost: actually not sure, but likely $32 (39.99 sale, plus 20% off coupon)

When I was pregnant with Elizabeth I learned a scary, scary thing - some women's feet grow during pregnancy. This scared the crap out of me, given my investment in my shoe wardrobe. Why? This site explains it pretty well. Even though '05 was hot as hell, I continued to wear all of my shoes (except this one pair) until the last week of pregnancy. I was hopeful that continuing to cram my feet into my shoes, they wouldn't be able to permanently stretch. That seemed to work, but unfortunuately I did not take the same precautions with Andrew's pregnancy, and I am forced to admit that my feet have definitely grown - just a bit - in the past few years. I've always been inbetween a 7.5 and 8, and depending on the shoe, the brand, and the style have chosen between those two sizes. If my feet weren't wide, I'd probably more often be a 7.5, but the width means shoes with straps over the widest part of me feet generally have to be a little larger.

What does that have to do with this pair? Well, I've had them forever. So long, and so integrated into my wardrobe I have no idea when I got them. The chunky heel definitely dates them to mid-90s. I've had them so long, they're actually the pair I've done the most repair on. Aggie chewed them a bit, so I know that by summer '97 they were favorites. I had the insole replaced, so not sure of the brand, but am pretty confident it's Nine West. The repair also smoothed the heel and repaired most of the Aggie damage. The repair didn't cost much - less than the cost of a new pair, even with my exacting standards of cheapness. Which reminds me of the green saying: reduce, reuse, recycle. It forgets the other 're' - repair. We live in a throwaway society, where repair is often seen as not worth the effort. Shoe repair shops are generally interesting places, and the skill involved is an art. Repair your shoes if it's an easy fix! My most common repair is new taps on the heel - don't know what that thing is called now, but the plastic/rubber doohickey that is on the bottom of the heel. Cheap to replace, and shoes good as new. I should get guards put on the front as I'm constantly banging up the front of pointy toes, but I rarely do.

Anyway, can you tell in the picture that the top portion is actually two separate, but very close together, bands? It's an odd design - as your foot bends and flexes, those two very close together bands pinch the top and sides of your foot ever so slightly, creating a row of tiny blisters. It was always a given that the first wearing would result in pain, but eventually I'd develop a faint tough line on my feet from wearing them (doesn't that sound appealing?).

It's been awhile since I've worn them - that chunky heel really is out of date. And so, cramming them on today, I realized that my feet are indeed just slightly larger than they were in the 90s. I was able to wear them, but could not get them on properly - the arch of my foot couldn't just quite reach the sweet spot of the curve of the heel for the fit I'd been used to. And I did get a few tiny blisters (gone by this morning).

These live under my bed. Given their history, I can't quite get rid of them yet, but they probably need to go - style-wise, they're done. Size-wise, it's probably not smart to hope I'll lose a small layer of fat on my feet. Sigh.

Bottom line: back under the bed, until I really need the space