Shoe Affliction

There are very few things that make me happier than a new pair of shoes.  And I’m not talking about just really expensive shoes – I do not discriminate – I love ALL new shoes that belong to me.  Chuck Taylors, Reef flip flops, Crocs with a furry lining, if it’s a shoe, it’s for me.  New shoes have that new shoe smell that reminds me of a shoe store. A shoe store with rows and rows of shoes in my size just waiting to be tried on.  I know, it’s a little bit crazy, but I know exactly where it comes from – my Mother.  She introduced me to the wonders of shoes at a very early age.

The top shelf of my Mother’s closet has always been reserved for shoes.  She keeps all of her shoes in their original boxes, organized by color, then style.  For example, there’s a section for black and in that section you might find 3 boxes – flats, pumps, and sling backs.  A similar section exists for navy, tan, etc.  You get the idea.  Brilliant organization method in my opinion.  I can remember watching my mother select shoes for work and thinking “One day maybe I’ll have that many shoes.”  A girl can dream!  When Off Broadway shoes opened, my Mother and I decided to swing by and take a look.  When we walked through the door she said, “Oh Kelli, it’s heaven.”  And I totally agreed.  It’s just in my blood.

So when a package from Zappos arrived on my doorstep this afternoon, my heart began to race and I opened it at once.  Best. Wednesday. Ever.  After the package was opened, the smell was smelt, and the shoes graced my feet, the next most logical thing to do was obvious – tweet about it.  I posted “Oh happy Wednesday! I just love seeing this logo on my doorstep#iloveshoes ” (with a photo of the package attached).  It seriously made me smile all afternoon just thinking about it.  And then a friend replied “my wife has a similar affliction.”  I seriously laughed out loud.  An affliction?  I’d never thought of it that way!  Well if you’re going to have an affliction – best affliction ever!!  And then I started thinking about it – maybe I am a little too obsessed?  So I looked backed through some of my pics for the last few months…I’ll just go ahead and say it – My name is Kelli and I have a shoe affliction.

Here’s a photo I took of the last amazing delivery from Zappos in March.  A bright, shiny new pair of red Chuck Taylors. Totally photo-worthy.

And here’s a photo of shoes on my feet from February – I do not own these shoes, but for some reason I felt the need to capture the moment of having them on my feet. What was I thinking???

This time no feet in the shoes – but this composition kind of makes you grateful that you’re able to bask in the glow of these amazing shoes.  They participated in the Cooper River Bridge Run this year, so they didn’t have to be on my feet to get their photo taken.

After finding the last 3 pics in my files I thought “I bet I took a shoe pic on vacation.”  Sure enough – but this time I made my husband participate.  Here are our feet/shoes on a cruise ship.  Okay, I confess, it’s an affliction, but I embrace it proudly.

And BTW – for those of you wondering what was in the Zappos package today – 2 new pair of flip flops.  My shoe affliction has always pretty much centered on flip flops, and these new additions were welcomed into my closet with open arms and reserved placement right next to the other flip flops of similar color/style.