Shoes!

A peek into my guilty pleasure.

In the cubbies along my closet wall and in boxes stacked up waiting to be summoned live my shoes.

Confession - I have an addiction to shoes. It's a struggle for me to refrain from shoe shopping. I have so many and I am never quite satisfied with my collection. I am always searching for the most delightful yet comfortable and somewhat practical shoes.

Yes, all that in one shoe is quite ridiculous lol, however, this is my process. Above is just a quick photo of my most favored shoes, within the cubbies along the wall and boxes (unseen) stacked up I have other shoes that I rarely wear and can not part with yet. I do have in my collection those shoes that are one to two-hour shoes or those that used their siren calling abilities upon my mind to pull me to purchase only to sit in my shoe cubbies or boxes which I have stacked up on the floor. Some of these boxes are clear so I can see all my friends and some are in their original boxes either because the box was cute or I can not find any more of the perfect clear wider stackable boxes I had purchased and I want them to match as I do struggle a snippet with OCD tendencies. All these are stacked on the floor huddled closely together for moral support. I don't necessarily care if they are name brand, I go for the look, comfort is a strong goal. I work on an old wood floor with slats and crevices anything stiletto or close to it is a violation of the workplace. To be honest, I am not a fan of the skinny heal, I love a chunky heel that I could run from a bear in if necessary. Yes, I am more afraid of bears than people and realize that is pretty impractical as people are more commonplace for my environment than a bear (for a great podcast on Ursinology (BEARS) check out Ologies with Alie Ward). So the point is I did a little search on enneagram seven and shoes and decided to share my thoughts on shoes for a deeper dive into the mind of this seven and her preferences when it comes to footwear.

The criteria of how a shoe comes to live with me.

Questions I ask myself:

1. Is this shoe in my color?

2. If the shoe is not in my color can I paint it?

3. If the shoe is not in my color and I can paint it, is it worth it to possibly destroy the shoe in the process?

4. Is there a fun element to this shoe?

5. Does the shoe have an edgy element?

6. Is the shoe open-toed (that's usually a pass as my feet always want to make a break for it by slipping through the hole, or they become blistered by the strap containing them. Usually, it's the first challenge and that always results in chafing and slipping. Put it this way it's rare an open-toe shoe makes it to live with me.

7. What does the heel look like? Is the heel chunky (my favorite) or is it fun-shaped (icing on the cake!)

8. How many inches is the heel? If the heel is past 4 inches I begin to ponder deeply, for me the best height is between 3 and 4, preferably no more than 3.5, unless there is a slight platform that brings the actual lift to 3.5. Higher than that I feel unstable and my back begins to ache. A heel lower than 2 inches is typically a sandal, sneaker, or boot, FYI. Flats make me feel dumpy frumpy and are rare for me to wear. If a flat shoe comes to live with me it's either pure utilitarian or something interesting. I have a few regular sneakers (running type) and I call them my durg a durgs. I feel frumpy clunky when I wear them. Sneakers that are not considered durg a durgs are almost always Converse.

9. How is the fit?

10. Can I run in it if necessary (back to bears)?

11. Do I love the style?

12. Is the shoe comfy?

13. Price point, is the shoe a value equivalent to the price point?

Highlights of some of my favorite shoe babies, my preciouses I call them. Yes, I realize that is creepy. My personal rule when it comes to clothing when I buy something new I must get rid of one or two things I do not always apply that to shoes. It's harder for me to free them. The first in the slide is a pair of shoes that my daughter Elea and I painted together on a rainy day during a beach vacation. They are falling apart, but I just may keep them forever. She did all the super cool stuff and encouraged me to paint the octopus which surprisingly came out pretty good under her guidance. Oh, by the way, I did finally wear those nearly white booties and they did get a blotch. At least I did not step on them myself, Elea actually stepped on my toes at a party we attended. They did look adorable though!