On Shoes.

I wear a 10.5 wide in women's shoes. Not a 10, not an 11. 10.5. Finding a 10.5W shoe is a challenge, and a lot of times I just make do with 10W. Or I buy men's sizes if they're relatively neutrally styled.

I've been thinking about this because Monday, I got new Eastlands. Well, I got them last week, online. My husband actually ordered them on his computer since I was talking about how soaked my feet were from walking to the library from the parking lot in a very nice downpour. I even cut through other buildings on the way, but I was still soaked up to mid-calf.

Anywho, I was talking to him on my way back to the car to go home that night, and he went and looked them up on the Eastland site. It turned out that they were conveniently having a women's shoe sale, and so my 4.5 year old men's Eastlands have been replaced with brand new women's Falmouths, bomber brown, 10W. 10.5, of course, wasn't an option in any width.

My left foot is longer than my right foot, and the right is wider than the left. This makes buying shoes online something of a gamble, but I've been wearing Eastlands since seventh or eighth grade, when I finally talked my mom into letting me were something besides tennis shoes. My feet had stopped growing by that point, although I did get three inches taller between seventh and ninth grade.

The new ones are still stiff - although I see that as a sign of quality; these are good, sturdy leather shoes. I don't buy shoes terribly often, at least not ones I wear regularly. I go for licensed Birkenstock knock-offs for my sandals, and my tennies are New Balance, although the 10W has been feeling short, and I probably need to find a pair of men's that fit better. They're all good enough shoes to last me four or five years of alternating wear. My black work shoes have been holding up pretty well, though they're a bit scuffed - they're fantastically comfortable, and they may last me another five if the soles don't wear out.

I don't wear dress shoes terribly often - I'm a pants person for the most part; I have a few skirts and some cute little sandals to wear with them, but they're all summer clothes. I also can't walk very well in cute little wedge sandals, so I don't do it terribly often.

Anywho... shoes. Not a shopping weakness. (Cute little shirts, on the other hand...)