The Lady Killers

Nothing makes me feel less feminine than ugly shoes. My sisters will criticize me for wanting to feel girly at all, although they would never be caught dead with ugly shoes either. Unlike them, however, I have awful feet. They're not big or particularly ugly, they just hate shoes, and as I result, I end up having to wear ugly ones. Such lady killers, ugly shoes. But my feet have a mind of their own, especially the upper portion, which is Wide. I swear I've hurt them in a thousand ways and didn't even realize what had happened until later. Once an intoxicated, male ring of Indians getting down with their bhangra proceeded to trample all over my pinky toe and it is still disfigured. I don't know what it is, but I go through shoes the way Sania goes through blushes.

My mom has also scared me with varicose-vein stories (she would know - she has them), and again, in an effort to stall aging, I go easy on my feet. Usually even the seemingly comfiest shoes start to bother me within a few days of wear. The other day she practically gasped when I took off my shoes and insisted that my feet were swollen beyond belief and that "fancy" shoes are not "walking" shoes. I know this, of course, but I hadn't realized my plain old ballet flats (in a couple of different colors and patterns) were "fancy." But, of course, she was right. My feet have been killing me, especially in this tropical weather. So I made a quick stop at Payless yesterday and am very happy with a pair of cute sneaker/slip-ons - Airwalk's Explore Mary Jane.

I should mention that I love Payless for certain kinds of shoes - flip flops, the occasional wedge, and lately, their sport/comfort shoes and sneakers. They have an incredible, affordable line of sneakers from Airwalk, Champion, and American Eagle. Although I should wear them more often, I basically swore off sneakers in the 8th grade. But all these new cute styles have tempted me to perhaps try more. Last year I bought of pair of pink and gold Champions for $15 - they were brilliant!

This sporty version of the classic Mary Jane is still sedate enough to wear around the office (if you can pull that off in yours - I can). These styles are all the rage lately, but this pair was much less expensive than its designer counterparts. I was concerned about this because I just needed a decent pair to wear on the hilly trip to and from my train station and my daily lunch walks, not in the office. Most importantly, I promise, they won't kill the lady in you. $19.99 @ Payless