I like shoes. Not in an obsessive, hoarding way (that’s purses, so keep ‘em straight). I just appreciate a good, pretty, comfortable pair of shoes. So much that I usually wear them until they are falling apart and I end up wishing I had bought two.
FACT: My favorite pair of tennis shoes (that I still own and wear regularly) was purchased when I was in 10th grade. Yes, that means they are 10 years old.
Even though I love shoes, I often make bad shoe choices. Like my bad food choices. I pick out things that look good and I end up paying for it a few hours later.
About a month ago, I spent a day shopping with my mom. I don’t even remember the shoes I wore that day, but I do know one thing — they hurt. My feet were screaming by the time we made it to our 4th stop, which just happened to be TJ Maxx. After I had wandered through every aisle of their housewares section, answered phone calls from my mom (who was in the dressing room), and become bored beyond all reason (I hate shopping in stores unless I am looking for something specific — but YES, I am a woman), I found myself in the shoes. And before I knew what happened, I had a shoebox in my hand a new sandal on my foot.
And it was glorious.
It felt like a massage and walking on air all at once.
And the best part? FIFTEEN DOLLARS.
Sold!
The only thing is, I don’t know what my shoe is. I mean, I don’t know its name. It’s a Columbia sandal, but I’m pretty sure they don’t make it anymore and there’s not one in their current line that’s exactly like it.
It looks like a cross between the Gretta™ II and the Kambi™. The body of Gretta II (without the icky flowers) with the little between the toe strap of the Kambi.


So I don’t know what I’m wearing, but I love it. It’s all that I wear now. With shorts, with jeans, with skirts, and you can just almost get away with dressing it up…but it’s tricky. And I will wear it until all the support is gone for my one foot that still has an arch. (Long story. I’ll share sometime. Suffice to say I have got a whacked out right foot with a fallen arch, that is also 1 inch longer than my left.)
Columbia doesn’t know me. I mean nothing to them. And that kinda hurts, but I’m okay. Alls I know is that they make warm jackets that have kept me safe and cozy whenever I left mine at home over a spring break trip to New Mexico and ended up snowed in under 3 feet of snow. So, yes, Columbia, I kinda owe you my life.







Oklahoma girl through-and-through. Writer, aspiring domestic goddess and totalitarian dictator. Taking on the world one carb-induced coma at a time. Founder of GodlyGals, a ministry for women established in 2002. Co-host of Picture Shows & Petticoats. 


