My boots my boots my lovely leather boots.

Check it out.

Remember a few days ago when I was lamenting the imminent destruction of my leather boots and my chubby calves? Well the advice rolled in pretty much as soon as I hit publish. It was all stellar.

Between the suggestions of plus size shoes, getting the shafts stretched at a cobbler, and designers or websites that have worked for others, I was feeling empowered. Boot empowerment.

I went by the mall on my lunch break and tried on a couple pairs of boots. They were taller than my norm, but I figured you just never know. Well, the first pair I tried on were like heaven for my feet. It was like my feet were being hugged by clouds and angels, and maybe even baby pugs. It was, in a word, amazing. The only problem was that my calves were just a little too pudgy. If the boots had been half an inch shorter I would have adopted them right then and their. Alas, no dice.

I came back from my lunch break feeling good about the fact that out of two pairs I'd tried on, the first were almost a perfect hit. Boo yeah. There was hope! Well, as soon as I got back on the computer I read all of the lovely suggestions waiting for me and realized something. Since the boots were such a near perfect pair I'd head over there after work, after heading home to pick up Mom (she needed to get out of the house and I needed affirmation) and throwing on some jeans, try the boots on, take them to the cobbler and ask his humble opinion on whether stretching them was worthwhile and then proceed accordingly. Not worth it? Well I love me a good return policy.

So Mom and I went to the Bay after work and, lo and behold the boots... fit. They fit my calves. No stretching needed. It was a footwear miracle. And they were 20% off. 20% off $160 is no laughing matter. $160 in itself is so beyond anything I have ever spent on footwear in life that I needed to feel like I was making the best possible purchase I could. Those boots would need to last longer than I would. Or at least for the next two years.

Not only were the boots a little taller in the shaft than I was hoping, they had a wedge. A 3.5 cm wedge. Now we're talking a whole new ball game. They also weren't as comfortable as I remembered. I did it, though. I bit the bullet and even signed up for a store credit card to get an additional 15% off. We're right in the middle of Financial Peace University right now and I could feel Dave Ramsey looking down on me and shaking his head in disbelief. But... I'm good with credit cards! Paying cash wouldn't have gotten me such a good deal! And... I'm just going to cancel it as soon as I pay my bill. I swear! I  won't get sucked in by the evil credit card companies. And 29.9% interest is nothing to joke about. I saved over $50 on my boots. Surely Dave Ramsey would understand?

So I adopted those bad boys and took them home. They needed some arch support so the next day I bought some appropriate insoles and wore them around the house. But then I had doubts. Saturday and Sunday I checked out the high end shoe stores downtown that I would never even look at and found nothing that even remotely suited my needs. This year it's all about the booties or the tall boots. Thanks for nothing, trend setters.

The one thing I did notice was that when I doubled my usual budget all of a sudden those higher end shoe stores didn't seem so obscene. It was a weird feeling. Is this what it's like to be successful?

Yesterday afternoon I went home empty handed and decided that, yes, my new boots were keepers. Then I wore them out into the great big world, feeling like I was making a big purchase as soon as I stepped outside our front door, and I felt great. And today, to quote Shania, I feel like a woman. And a grownup. Grownups wear tall boots with heels. Boo yeah.


I wanted so bad to have photos for this post (because clearly you want to see what it is that's got me all bothered) but I didn't get a chance. I'm going to try and get a few more photos going on my blog, but with the speed life's been going and the amount of awkwardness I feel asking someone to take photos of me in my boots it just gets challenging. I'll try and ask the hubster some time soon.