I am a freak; I am a Barbie from the ankles down. This is a well-known fact, and anyone who has ever heard me rant or rave about my footwear choices can attest. Due to freakishly high arches in my feet I am most comfortable in 4″ heels. I can run in 4″ heels, I can run fast in 4″ heels. I mean, not like Marathon-in-three-hours “fast”, but I’m pretty damn fast!
Correction: I can run pretty damn fast in well-made 4″ heels.
Last week I was rummaging through my shoe room–yes, I said shoe room–and unearthed a couple of boxes that I had almost forgotten about. I organize my shoes by season and buy them on sale off-season. This means there are times when I actually do forget about a pair of shoes for months until I unearth them again. I found two pairs of satiny heels, one black and one teal, with fantastic peep toes and gorgeous ruching at the toe…I was in-love again.
My shoe-love contact high lasted until about 9:27 am, after four trips up and down two flights of stairs and a trek through the warehouse. And then I was cursing my beautiful but horribly uncomfortable and wobbly-heeled stilettos; with lots of swears.
Who the hell makes four-inch death traps that make your ankle roll and the ball of your foot go numb? What evil masochist thought that any woman with feet, ankles or calves would be able to move in those damn shoes?! I have never hated a pair of shoes that I loved so much. Argh!
Ladies (and any gentlemen readers that want to try their hand, or foot, at 4″ heels), cheap shoes that are not well made are the reason you cannot run in heels. Wobbly heels that are not solidly attached to the shank and the arch will hurt your ankles and make your feet feel like they’re imbedded with thumb-tacks. Shoes that are not engineered to support your body weight correctly will make your back ache and make you wish your legs could be amputated.
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I’m not a big shoe-shopper, but sometimes I buy things – mostly books – that have been talked up a LOT, and I get so disappointed with them that I take it as a personal insult that the author was this terrible, and end up selling them on TradeMe for 50c with a disclaimer that this book sucks and I can’t justify selling it for what I could probably get because I feel like I would be robbing innocent children. Specific example of this: The Da Vinci Code. Very, very disappointing book.
Comment by Allie 2009 June 8 @ 3:18 amSadly, people still buy it. Actually, there was a bit of a bidding war on The Da Vinci Code, I ended up selling it for $4. What a waste of money.
I can’t walk in heels, at all. I’m terrible at it and so most or all of the time I walk in flat, no heel shoes. Hope you can recover some cash and the shoes go to someone who only wears them while sitting down
Comment by Inna 2009 June 8 @ 4:39 amIgh. NOTHING is worse than an uncomfortable but cute pair of shoes… If they’re uncomfortable and not-cute, no problem. But with the cute, the choice can be agonizing…
Comment by Z 2009 June 8 @ 6:33 amThis is so unfortunate! And they ARE cute. Someone who is used to being uncomfortable in heels will definitely be happy to take those off your hands.
Comment by Jess 2009 June 8 @ 7:23 amI need to learn how to shop for shoes because ALL of mine hurt my feet.
Comment by Britt 2009 June 8 @ 8:34 amI’ve sold shoes before. It hurt my heart, but my feet are much happier. I agree about well-made versus cheap. I finally made myself a promise not to buy anymore crap clothes or shoes. I’ve never regretted that decision!
Comment by abbersnail 2009 June 8 @ 10:05 amI’m still in awe that you can rock out the 4″ heels. I so rarely wear heels, because even when they’re well-made, they still hurt my footsies!
Comment by SoMi's Nilsa 2009 June 8 @ 10:28 amOh honey, I hear your cries! Last week I went to a Crave (shoe/purse) party and fell in love with these yellow/mustard point toed heels. They were great on, and they were only $21. Well I wore them the next day and then only thing I could muster up to tell my self and my shoe fashion pride is to NEVER buy cheap shoes…. EVER!
Comment by Uzi 2009 June 8 @ 11:17 amI was up the next two nights with blisters on my feet that were rubbed wrong by my sheets.
I also buy a lot of shoes off-season, and I know the joy of rediscovering those shoe purchases. Sorry to hear that your shoe discoveries turned out to be so treacherous!
Comment by Erin 2009 June 8 @ 3:57 pmoooh, I love the shoes. Too bad that they were craptastic when you wore them
Comment by setin4 2009 June 9 @ 8:47 pmNow, before we get all crazy and start selling things – let me ask you this. Are they “churchable?” Can you handle it for 3 hours of mostly sitting? I find that I have 1 pair of shoes that are most definitely not for all day work wear – or anything to do with walking – BUT – for a 3 hours church block – well hey – that’s doable. Something to consider… mostly for those teal ones. Loverly.
Comment by Andrea 2009 June 10 @ 7:19 amfor some reason i’ve never been a big shoe person. probably because my feet (size 10) are too big and all the cute shoes are always in much smaller sizes.
Comment by miss chevious 2009 June 10 @ 11:55 amI, literally, have taken the bus to work so I can’t make an accidental detour to the mall to buy these Michael Kors shoes that fit like buttah and are on sale for $86. I thought I’d found a solution to my problem but now you’ve opened a door to online shoe purchasing that I thought I’d closed. Damn you, Heikins!
Comment by thecoconutdiaries 2009 June 11 @ 5:28 pmWhat brands do you buy? What do you look for in a good shoe? I usually joke in posts, but sometimes, a flip-flop girl needs real help!
Comment by Trish Ryan 2009 June 13 @ 7:09 pm(I’m not sure how you can combine vacation planning with retail footwear fashion guidance into one business venture, but I’m saving my pennies to hire you when you do!)
Hey! Thanks for directing me here! I recently discovered that I love 4″ heels and I’m remembering that you had a billion shoes in high school too. Funny. You’ll have to recommend some places to pick up cheap, well-made heels.
Comment by laura 2009 June 13 @ 9:08 pmyou sound like m! I LOVE shoes and I am most comfortable in heels.
Comment by La Petite Belle 2009 June 17 @ 4:55 amI have those shoes. I look at them and go: you will go so nicely with my lovely dress. 5 minutes into the function I am standing at the back with one shoe off, then the other. I never learn!
Also love the title, my younger brother used it to break up with his first girlfriend at the ripe old age of 13. I always knew he was going to go far!
Comment by Stacey 2009 June 17 @ 9:46 pm