Exercise, Sunsets, and Shoe Shopping

Exercise & Sunsets

I took my (almost) daily walk today and it was absolutely gorgeous. I always try to walk around sunset, both for the cooler temperatures and for the joy of seeing the sky as the sun goes down. On a scale of 1 to 10, today's sunset was a 10, without a doubt! I consider it my reward for getting out there. ;) The past week it's been a little difficult to walk due to the heat, but the cold front came through so it was chilly enough to wear a jacket and scarf and it made the walk a breeze.

For my walk yesterday I wound up doing some unplanned sprints through the mall! I was shopping for our upcoming European vacation and had lots of things to get with limited time before kid pick up. It was crowded too, so people must've thought I was nuts! I try to avoid that particular mall during holidays and weekends since it's a giant tourist trap, but I forgot about Spring Break. One of the hazards of homeschooling; you forget what the rest of the world is up to.

Shoes

I was on a quest at the mall for the perfect shoes to wear in Paris since I hear sneakers are a no no, unless you WANT bad treatment. (Actually, Samantha Brown said you can wear jeans OR you can wear sneakers, but you can't wear jeans AND sneakers. We love her shows on the Travel Channel and we'll take her advice to heart, thanks.) I have a hard time with shoes. I have to wear orthotics (YUCK) due to heel spurs and plantar fasciitis, or basically really bad feet. Normally I wear either a pair of really hideous orthotic Birkenstock sandals, making everyone think I'm some leftover hippie or something, well, I probably am, but that doesn't mean I WANT to look that way, or sneakers with orthotic inserts. Neither of those options will work for our vacation but since I am ALSO cursed with really large feet in a size that shoe stores don't think exists, it's a challenge to find a shoe that I can 1. put my orthotic into 2. fits properly 3. isn't a sneaker 4. is at least somewhat cute. I found a shoe that covers 3 out of the 4, passing up on, you guessed it, the cute factor. Sigh. As for the size thing, I'm between 10 and 11. 10 and a half. I wear a 10 and a half. Try to find it in the stores. IT DOESN'T EXIST. Shoe stores DO NOT sell women's sizes in 10.5. It's so unfair. I hate the way my new shoes look, hate, hate, hate them, but I'm grateful I found them all at the same time. They are UGLY but they at least meet the not-a-sneaker-my-othotics-fit-them-they-fit-me requirements.

DH says I should try online like zappos or something, but when you have to try on 40 pairs of shoes to get one pair that fits properly, how the heck can you mail order shoes? At least they carry the elusive 10.5 size so I'll have to give them a try one of these days. My sister in law told me about them years ago, too, so it's a matter of time before I try them, but I don't have time to deal with mail order before our vacation. Sadly, the ugly shoes will have to do.