Seventh Circle of Hell

[geeklover80]

I'm not really big on shopping. I might enjoy it more if I ever had money to freely shop, but even if I did I don't think I'd enjoy the act of shopping very much. I can do it for a little while, but if I'm out there for more than an hour or so I start to get annoyed - especially if I'm there against my will - and just want to go home. That's with clothes shopping, which I actually have some interest in. When it comes to shoes, I really have no interest. But I had to go shoe shopping almost all day.

My mom "got to" Jean about the shoes. She walked into our room the other day and started asking me about my shoes for the wedding. When I said no heels, she gave me my mom's line about if I would at least try a really small heel. She admitted later my mom put her up to it and asked to take me shoe shopping. I decided to at least give it a try.

First, I looked online at pinterest to see what kind of shoes I'd like. I had mentioned thinking about wedges, but I couldn't find any that I liked. A lot of them were just as high as some heels and chunkier than I wanted. Most of the shoes I liked did turn out to be flats.

When we got the mall, Mike first got shoes for himself. He already got rentals but he wanted something better and more comfortable. Mike has problems with dress shoes. He needs a wider front and can't always find it. This time he found a shoe he liked right away.

I wasn't so lucky. As soon as I tried on my first shoe, I knew I might be in trouble. I've always had trouble finding shoes because my right foot is abnormal. Well, not the foot but the toes. The second to last toe is shorter than the last one. I don't know what it's missing, but it looks like it's ingrown or something. I have trouble describig it, so here's a picture under a spoiler cut for any non-foot fetishists out there. ;)

That's one of the reasons I almost never wear sandals and a lot of times when I have to find formal shoes, it's a little more difficult, like I'll find shoes that I like when I try them on, but after wearing them a short time they start to hurt. I tend to stick to sneakers because it's easier to find comfortable ones.

That never really occurred to me when we went shopping because I hadn't given it much thought and I rarely go shoe shopping. As soon as I tried on the first one, it felt a little too tight and the edge of the toe box hits me right in the middle of that problematic toe. And it was like that with almost every shoe I tried on in that store. There was no shoe that covered the whole toe and all of them squeezed the front of my foot.

I tried on a couple of heels, which mostly had the same problems, but it was enough to know that I might be willing to try a heel as long as it isn't too high and that the heel isn't too skinny.

One of the biggest problems, other than the shape of the shoes not working with my feet, is that there aren't many stores for good shoes around here. When it was a bust at the mall we were at, which was already 45 minutes from our house, we went to another mall that was another half an hour away.

When we went to the second mall, I did find a shoe that finally covered the problem toe, but it still felt too tight and with that one the way it hit my ankle hurt my ankle bone. Jean was really disappointed I didn't go for that one. She said it was just one day, which yeah, but I don't want to be uncomfortable on that day. At one point Michael joked that I might have to go for a dressy sneaker for the wedding. I'm not too keen on that idea and I know my mom would go apoplectic at that thought.

But I might end up with no choice. I found a lot of shoes I liked online, but I hate online shopping for clothes and shoes because a lot of times something looks good when you're looking at it, but when you try it on, it doesn't look as good or doesn't fit right. Given how much trouble I had with the majority of shoes I tried on, I don't know if I could trust buying a shoe online that I haven't tried on. I think like with Mike I need a shoe with a much wider toe than I'm finding right now.

Another big problem with finding the right shoe is a problem with finding a shoe in the right size. My shoe size is 7 1/2...generally. Like it's 7 1/2 with sneakers, but with other shoes sometimes I wear a 7, sometimes I can pull off an 8. When I tried on shoes that day, I tried it in a lot of different sizes. I tried 7 1/2 shoes at first, but most of them were either way too big or slightly too big. So sometimes I tried 7, 6 1/2, or 6 and none of them fit consistently. The best fits were 6 1/2 and 7.

But if I try to buy on-line, I don't know which size I should go for, which of course makes things more difficult.

After about the fourth or fifth hour of shoe shopping, I started to get grouchy and frustrated and didn't want to look at another shoe again. But I must keep looking. If I don't find a shoe I trust online, I'm thinking of going up to where our wedding is being held (since we have to drop off the cake topper) and try and find something there, since they have a lot of shops.

Stacey

Comments

[dunderklumpen.livejournal.com]

Despite all the trouble with the shoe itself and the fact that you maybe don't wanna spend twice as much money for shoes... why don't you try a small heel shoe for the ceremony and then change to flats for the reception?

That's how almost all of my friends did it so they looked perfect during the ceremony (a heel just gives you a complete different body language when you wear it to a dress) but can be comfortable at the party afterwards. And you could take a relatively inexpensive pair of flats. They don't even have to be white if you don't wear white too often - they could be sparkly silver, gold or cream.

I know that there are shoes out there which are extra wide - usually at the heel or middle. But they're wider in general so that could be an option? You can find them for example at Simply Be (and I'm sure at a bunch of other online sites as well):

http://www.simplybe.com/icat/viewallfootwear

You can change the search parameters on the left.

Oh, and what about a 3/4 inch heel? (http://www.simplybe-euro.com/shop/the-shoe-tailor-slip-on-shoes-extra-wide-eee-fit/gq718/product/details/show.action?pdBoUid=1457#colour:,size:) It's higher than flats but not too high.

[geekslave.livejournal.com]

Buying two shoes has been suggested to me before, but like you pointed out, since I'm having trouble with just finding one shoe, I'm not sure I want to look for two. I think if I am going to go with a heel something like a 3/4 heel or slightly longer is what I'd go with.

Thanks for the links! Some cut shoes on there.

Stacey

[dunderklumpen.livejournal.com]

You have the same problems with flats? I thought it was only with shoes who need to be a bit tighter like heels.

But good luck with finding something nevertheless.

[geekslave.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I have had problems with the flats I've tried. Most of the edges of the toe part cut right into my damaged toe, so I have to find a shoe with bigger toe area.

Thanks.

Stacey