August 6 - new ouchies

What: purple brown size 8 ballet flats with buckle
From: Talbots
Purchased: July 22, 2010
Cost: $24!

Wohoo - my 12th pair of shoes bought this year, extensively discussed here. I wore these on an outing Friday and I am sad to report the blister situation on the back on my heels was severe. I haven't worn closed heel shoes much this summer at all, and boy did I suffer.

In other news, I really think I have done something to my left foot. I tried the "just ignore it and it will go away" strategy which did not work. So now I'm trying the "wear tried and true shoes that have a tiny bit of a heel," and that isn't entirely working, either. I think it's related to wearing very flat flip flops, which is my new trend of 2010. (2008 was the heeled flip flops and 1.5 inch heel summer, 2009 was the espadrille summer, and so far this summer has been the flip flop summer. 2009 was also the first year in two decades that I started wearing shoes that were totally flat, and I've been doing it more and more often this year, so that might be an issue too).

I'm about to try the "walk it off with orthotics," so we'll see what happens then.

But in all seriousness, I need a break. I'm bored with photographing my shoes and writing self indulgently about them, not to mention totaling up how much I have spent, and my eyes are glazing over perusing websites of possible new shoes. It's August. We've been away one weekend but otherwise have not had a vacation. I still have summer shoes to wear (my really cool flower orange ones I wore to Ryan's wedding, not to even mention the new bronze platforms that because of this challenge I haven't worn since May), though a great deal of them are higher heels, and I just don't want to wear high heels right now. In short, I need a break.

But yet, I do still have over 100 pairs to go, and we are heading toward cooler weather. So my challenge remains, but I'm giving myself a break in August. If I wear 10-15 different pairs this month (as opposed to 30), I'll consider that a success. I've also got a couple of essays to pen, and to answer a question, I'd be more than happy to provide any guidance or suggestion! So stay tuned, ask away, just don't tune in every day.