The difference between men and women

I have a small obsession with shoes.  Most of my friends, thanks to Facebook, are aware of this.  So when they see catchy / clever things shoe-related they tend to share with me one way or another.

A girlfriend of mine recently saw some beverage napkins she while out shopping which said “Life is Short.  Buy the Shoes.”  She said she thought of me and so snapped a pic and posted it to my FB wall.  (Aside: have I mentioned that I’ll stick with living in the age of technology over “the good old days” TYVM)

I like this gem of wisdom so much I made set the picture as the wallpaper on my phone.

Today I was explaining this to DH.

Me: Pier 1 has these beverage napkins which say “Life is short Buy the Shoes.”

Him: (with face scrunched up in the most confused look ever) “Buy the Shoes? Huh.  What shoes?”

Me: “It’s just a general statement.  Any shoes, cute shoes.  You know, like ‘life is too short to skip dessert’. It’s not about a particular pair of shoes.”

Him: has look on face that says, ‘OK, but it still doesn’t make any sense/why are you telling me this?’

Me: (thinking it’s a lot less gratifying to share clever / funny things if you have to explain them and even that is met with a blank look.) “You know, I wouldn’t have to explain this to any woman I know.  They would understand that it’s a philosophical statement.”

Apparently, according to him, the only time men think about buying shoes is when they are actually in a store trying to buy some because they’ve noticed they need some.  Talk about not knowing how to live life to the fullest!

New sandals and the little voices inside my head

There will be a very important poll in this post.  Please vote if you care at all about shoes. Read on for context and pictures

A couple weeks ago I came across these sandals that I thought were cute but there weren’t any in my size so I was spared the dilemma to buy or not to buy.  A few days ago, I came across them again in my size.  After much indecision in the store, I left them there.  On that same trip to Marshalls (ostensibly for boys jeans) I fell madly in love with a pair of Franco Sarto heels – also not available in my size.

The next day I was working working working but thinking thinking thinking about these shoes.  Mostly the heels that I loved.  The voice of my inner shoe fiend kept whispering to me that I could run up to the other location of the same store over lunch and see if they had my size.    Now, as I’ve mentioned, I have a shoe size that is most common so beautiful shoes in my size quickly disappear.  Or at least that is the reasoning the inner shoe fiend was using.

12:15 – enter store, hard right into the first shoe aisle.  Second stack of shoes is Franco Sarto, third box down is my shoe in my size.  Yes, that is what is commonly known as a shopping miracle.  Or a sign from the universe that it is meant to be.

12:20 – there’s that voice again… while you’re here, might as well see if they have those sandals in your size.  I go up and down every aisle and find that there is exactly ONE pair of this style buried in a stack of a different Nine West style (that is hideous, I might add.  I think someone stashed them there as their own personal layaway mechanism because, I promise you, no one was looking for the shoe displayed above that stack.  U.G.L.Y.

12:40 – I’m on my way home with a new pair of sandals and a new pair of shoes.

Now you’d think none of this would really merit a blog post much less a poll.  However, those sandals have sat in my closet for 24 hours now and there’s another voice inside my head.  It’s wondering aloud if living in S. Florida all these years has possibly affected my judgment.  It’s entirely possible this whole second-guessing is entirely due to a certain acquaintance of mine making some comment about my last pair of bling-enhanced sandals being reminiscent of the stereotypical south florida senior living in Boca that tends toward, shall we say, fashion choices that range from a wee bit over-the-top to wildly inappropriate and even downright fugly.  A little shoe feedback PTSD exacerbated by an aging crisis (mine) already in progress.

So, help me out my peeps.  Here are the sandals in question.  Now vote.  Then scroll down to ooh and ahh over the the FS shoes I am in love with (no indecision there so if you’re of opinion that those ones are ugly keep it to yourself. ).  Only if, you know, you’re into that sort of thing, of course.  And if you’re wondering about the white spots – see the last poll option.