Mind over Stiletto

I can’t take credit for the title, it comes from a friend Colleen McDowall who may have the greatest shoe collection of any woman I know and could possibly rival many of the ladies in New York. They are fun, flirty and always colorful yet tasteful and classic. Plain and simple she has a fantastic shoe collection, but at times they look so painful that it almost makes me cringe to see her feet in them. One day, while working a bovine (cattle for my city friend) veterinarian tradeshow in Salt Lake City, UT with her, me in my low heeled loafer shoes and her in 3 inch pointed-toe cheetah print pumps, I asked how she could wear those shoes and she said to me, “It just mind over stiletto my darling.” So I am writing this because my mind must need more practice…I currently have 4 blisters on my feet due to my new pair of cute shoes (and I am not just saying they are cute, I had a total of 4 compliments from people whose taste and style I respect and even envy at times so it is fact that my shoes were cute). When I spotted these cute zebra printed wedges in the store I almost passed them by, you are probably asking if they were so cute then why…well, they looked like they would hurt my feet, but being a sucker for zebra print I decided to try them on and to my surprise they were shockingly comfortable so I proceeded to walk around the store in them for about three minutes and decided that they were actually going to work. As I leave the store I am smiling because I not only found what I considered (and later determine it was not just my taste buds that watered from the looks of my zebras) to be cute shoes, but they rang up $13 cheaper than the price tag…what a deal!! Now I am paying the price for my good taste in cute shoes but probably bad taste in quality of shoes I ask myself why oh why do women wear such painful shoes? I guess there are many reasons why: they want to look taller, they are in style, they match that dress that you can’t find anything to go with, men like them, they were on sale and I only have 8 pairs of black pumps and the list could go on forever but whatever the reason we usually have sore feet, blisters and if you don’t that means you have lost all feeling in your feet from years of foot abuse. I want to commend each and every one of you out there who can painlessly (or outwardly painlessly) wear those cute trendy shoes that give blisters and pinch your toes. As for me will I keep wearing those kinds of shoes? Of course I will, but makes me appreciate my Ariat cowboy boots more and more each day. Traveling Cowgirl Code: Pedicures are the best cure for aching feet and cowboy (or cowgirl) boots are a cowgirl’s best friend.