my best friend would chase me down the street if she read that headline, yelling at me for becoming a “girl” but there you have it folks.
<girl>
The summer of 2006, my friend and I went to Tennessee to visit another friend who was going to school out there. While there, I fell in love with a pair of shoes. Not just any shoes, but cowboy boots. Not just cowboy boots, but the “Cadillac of cowboy boots.” (I knew i was in trouble when J.C. (the sales guy) called them that.)
As soon as I put them on, i was in heaven. They looked cool and felt awesome. “They’re conform to your foot,” J.C. said. “These will be the only pair of boots you’ll ever need.” At $300+, i sure hoped so.
Despite the financial angel on my shoulder yelling at me, i bought them. I had a slight twinge of buyers remorse (similar to how i felt after buying the Italian leather jacket while visiting Florence, which i’m finally about to get rid of after 8 years and a dozen or so wears) but mostly i was very happy i was the new proud owner of an A W E S O M E pair of boots.
That night, I walked them around the carpeted hotel room and wore them sitting on the bed talking to my friends. Had I been more sure about my purchase, i probably would have worn them around that day. But, while gitty over them I was still trying to come to terms with the amount spent.
Sometime during the night I decided to help my broke self not be more so and decided to return the boots the next evening. My traveling companions had to practically drag me out of the car when reached the store. I almost tried to talk the guy down in price when i got to the register, hoping they’d take pity on a city girl and her first pair of cowboy boots but no such luck.
I didn’t think about them too much for the rest of the trip, but my friends might have a different version of that story to tell.
Later that year, i found them on Zappos. I could get them next day! But they weren’t any cheaper. C’est la vie.
I continued to drool over them, never purchasing them, for another year. When I ‘refound’ them on Zappos, i bookmarked them on del.icio.us.
I don’t think about them everyday, that would be *slightly* nutso. But they do come up from time to time. Like today when i was asked to go see a Southern Culture on the Skids show. I never bought the boots, because, besides the cost, i assumed i’d never have a place to wear them being a FlipFlop-wearin’ City Girl. a SCOTS show would be a good place to wear them. But alas.
It’s been over 2 years since i first laid eyes on those boots and I’m still fantasizing about them. If i think about it too long, i realize it’s bordering on the sick. “Either buy them and wear them or don’t buy them and get over it,” i hear the voices say. If they were a Silly Vacation Purchase (there’s always one, and unfortunately for me it’s never cheap), i’d have forgotten about them by now. If i bought them, i’d make the occasion to wear them. Like with pink ball gowns with lots of taffeta. Or, more boringly, with my normal uniform of jeans and a t-shirt.
For now though, I’ll continue to drool over them while trying to rationalize that a $300 pair of boots is worth every penny.
::grabs empty applesauce jar and puts her loose change in it::
it’ll be a long time, but one day, perhaps, i may once again be the proud owner of the “Cadillac of cowboy boots.”
</girl>
For me, it is a pair of 4 inch, black patent leather, peep-toe Mary Janes. I want these shoes. Lust after them. Dare I say need them–but I can not afford them, and now that I am a librarian and not a desk worker, have few if any places to wear them. Shoes, well all footwear, has always been my weakness.
With your boots, at least they do have a level of versatility–jeans, skirts, shorts (ok, only if you want to be Daisy Duke or Jessica Simpson as Daisy Duke–but hey, many dudes think this is a look that works). Plus, and this is my throw-back to office worker, $300 is not so bad if you amortize it over the 10 year+ life of the boots. I mean really, $30/year for a fantasy come true–not bad.
Mine–well, they are Christian Louboutin’s and cost around $3,500 on sale–never ever will they be possible and the tiny buckle will never last over two years, so no fancy math is possible. So for me, and all the other unreasonable shoe lovers out there, go buy those boots and wear them proudly!
Update: i found these boots at Allens Boots in Austin Texas a few months ago. I tried them on and low and behold, i wasn’t as in love with them as i remember being. Funny how memories change in your mind. Or perhaps i’m in a different mental place now.
While in the store, though, i did fall in love with another pair – which they stopped making years ago and at this point would be a pricey custom order. Eh.
But, much to my surprise, while in Austin i also fell in love with vintage clothing stores and on my 3rd one stumbled upon a pair of kitten heeled, brown, supple leather boots for $35. Now that’s more my speed. And once i got the heels replaced (they were old), i’ve worn them basically every day. Score!