The Quest of Sensible Shoes

So, I have this question. Is it possible to wear sensible shoes and still look fashionable? It's possible that because I'm now past thirty that I'm getting 'old foggery' and worry about my feet. I wear high heels to the office and my feet and shins hurt every day. This could be partly because I have flat feet and have foot issues, but I ignore that in the favor of fashion.

Is it possible to still be fashionable?

I think so. I did some serious searching online and looking at pinterest's fashion pages. I got lots of ideas. A lot of it was breaking this idea in my head down that you couldn't look 'businessy' without stilettos. I'm starting to think I was wrong.

The fireman gave me some ideas too, cause men look at women. They know what they like.

He even said he'd go shopping with me last weekend, on Sunday after church. But since I knew I'd try on five kagillion pairs of shoes, I took a test run and went with the girl on Saturday. We stopped at a ton of places and tried on a ton of shoes. Her too, cause it's fun.

This is what  I came up with.

I thought these would work with dresses, black and white especially. I could throw some red banglebracelets or a skinny belt to bring it together.

 I seriously fell in love with these, they look classy, they look good with slacks, but probalby also with a sundress or something.

 These are super cool, but unfortunately, not very comfortable. Hubby reminded me that I made a promise to myself not to buy shoes that hurt my feet anymore!

 These are fun and cool and would look awesome with capris, but since I'm more concerned about work-wear, I can buy springy shoes later. Besides, I have more casual options for footwear right now.

 Fun, skinny jeans, leggings, skirts, sundresses.

These were so totally comfortable, but were more casual, so I skipped them for now. :)

I ended up buying these, as they were so totally comfortable, it wasn't funny! I was so shocked! These broke the mold. They're feminine and classy. I wore them to work with a tan pencil skirt and a hot pink charmeuse blouse. Totally classy! I wasn't sure it could be done.

I am getting the red pair from the top and probably the one with rhinestones!

Some flats are so flat that they do hurt your feet because of lack of arch support. I am going to buy some inserts to wear with those. And I'm going to opt for the cotton kind, not the gel kind cause I like to wear these without hose often, and gel would be icky on bare feet. Besides, I could wash the inserts.

We went to Kohls, Target, and Famous Footwear.

While at Target, the girl had to have nachos.

 And an Icee. She mixed the cherry and blue raspberry. She's a genius.

 I got a coffee at the Starbucks! Brewed, not mocha. I'm tough.

BTW, she totally told me to take those pictures, she said you guys wanted to know.

I'm so twisting her little mind. *bwahahahahah*

So, here's my findings.

I am currently 5 days without heels.

I do realize that sounds like an alcholics anonymous confession.

It kinda is.

I am walking differently! My muscles hurt in my lower thighs. Did I not use that part of my leg before?
I'm wondering if part of my lower back issues are from the heels. I'm wondering if my muscles will end up looking better after I haven't worn heels for a couple of months.

Now, I still plan on wearing them on special occasions.

I will confess it was really hard to pull all of my shoes out of the closet and reorganize them. The shoe rack under the dresses used to be extra shoes that I rarely use. I got rid of a couple of old shoes that I don't wear, and stacked my highest shoes back in the back. They're not going there to die, but only to be worn occasionally. Now I have better choices close to grab.

Oh, and I also discovered through the wild, wild web that when wearing heels, wedges are better because they distribute the weight throughout the footbed, stacked heels (those wider at the top) distributes weight better than stilettos and platform shoes look heigher but aren't necessarily. So, if the platform is large the weight on your toes isn't as extreme. You just have to be careful about balance on platforms. Don't wanna twist an ankle.

I really thought this would be hard, but it's not so bad. I just had to wrap my head around the options that existed. I was pleasantly surprised.

BTW, I also think my treadmill workouts hurt less. I think my muscles are improving!! Yay!

What do you guys think? Are flats as dressy? Are there occasions where you think they will never work?