I’m still going through the photos I took during my travels in November, but I’ve gotten far enough to complete another episode in the continuing series “Things I Held in My Hands but Did Not Buy”, this time featuring shoes. I took a break from the road at a strip mall that had a Nordstrom Rack and a DSW (along with an Ulta and a Five Below, so basically designed to pull me off the highway). In the past, I have found great deals on shoes I wear often at both places (though not at this particular mall), but this time I left empty handed after seeing some appealing pairs.

There were these Tory Burch pumps with a woven upper and a very interesting heel, which not only had a two-toned wood mosaic pattern (very quilt-like) but was also shaped like the letter C (open end toward the front of the foot), which is not something I have in my shoe collection. Besides being impractical for my current lifestyle, these were too big and too expensive.

 
I also like these Tory Burch spectator-esque pumps with a chunky cylindrical heel (apparently the style is called Cambridge, though the price tag just said Navy Sea/Ivory. These might have fit (they were a half size bigger than I usually wear though I don’t usually wear Tory Burch), but I did not try them on because I knew I couldn’t afford them, even marked down at Nordstrom Rack.

 

Finally there were these silver holographic flowered slides at DSW which I thought very hard about. They were much less expensive and much more practical (well, less impractical anyway) than the pumps above, but the fit was just off enough that I thought they might be uncomfortable when worn for more than a short time, and where I wanted to wear them was all day at a nail polish con. So they stayed in the store, too.

 
If I didn’t already have an excess of impractical shoes in my collection, I might have been more tempted by these, but I’m happy just have seen them and held them and had some moments dreaming about where I might wear them if I didn’t live in hiking shoes or ski boots most of the time.

*****
On this date in 2017: Winter Risks and Rewards
2016: Second Verse, Same as the First
2015: Might As Well Fail Big
2014: I’d Rather Be Limited
2013: WDW Day 1: Arrival and the Studios
2012: Inside the Envelope
2011: Paying It Forward
2010: No entry
2009: Alien Dessert
2008: The Secret to My Success
2007: Done and Undone
2006: No entry
2005: Nothing Ice Can Stay
2004: ABC Spin Quilt
2003: I See You When You’re Driving
2002: Older Than Dirt