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I realize that I do not need to share the excruciating details of my everyday life on this forum, but I had an encounter this evening that made me wonder if, while out in a pair of heels, we do not notice others who may notice us? A bit of a backfill is needed. My employer mandates that all employees have to exhausted certain types of Acquired Benefit Time (i.e. personal days and/or vacation days) by the end of the calendar year or lose it. As Christmas and New Year's Day fall on Wednesdays this year, about 99% of the staff take extra days off throughout December. I am, unfortunately, that one percent that still has to make my way into the office. As we approached the end of 2024, my bosses began sending emails to their staff indicating on what days they would/would not be in the office over the last two weeks of December. Given that I was the only poor soul who was not taking any time off over the holidays, I decided to make the most of all others being away by designating the last two weeks of the year as "High-high heel days." I decided that I was going to wear those 4+" heels into the office with some outfit that, until very recently, I would never have otherwise considered doing so. I very much wanted to make sure that I was comfortable doing so now so that I could do so again in the future. This past Tuesday, for example, I wore an exquisite knee-length leather skirt with my 4.5" Jessica Simpson - Tulip (model) boots. Today I wore a delicious animal print, just above the knee skirt with 4" wedge boots and a black turtleneck. As a whole, the ensemble was quite haute couture if I do say so myself. After the end of the workday, I headed over to the local wine bar in town as the place has a Friday after work special. After sharing a drink with a friend and colleague from another department that is the monstrosity of my employer, I decided to engage in my favorite, least desirable activity - weekly grocery shopping. FWIW, my colleague raved about my outfit and I told that if she continued, she was going to make me blush, which was not that hard as I was already wearing a nice rose colored blush! As I made my way into the hair care products aisle, I encountered two younger aged women, who I would place in their early 20s. I took notice of one of them because she was wearing very casual, just over-the-knee, 2.5" block, black microfiber heel boots, with distressed jeans. I grabbed some hair conditioner and made my way to the end of the aisle where I encountered the two women. The woman wearing the boots then says to me words along the line of "I love your outfit - you look fabulous!!" "Oh, thank you ever so kindly!!" was my response, which is my standard response and I truly do mean it. The same woman told me that she loved the skirt and I find that making small talk when given a compliment has been received is a means by which to show sincere appreciation of such. I told the women that, in fact, I found it at the local second-hand store, and was amazed to find an item so cute and in my size. Seeing that it fit me so well, I "had" to buy it for the few dollars marked on the price tag. The woman continued to compliment my outfit and then told me that as soon as she noticed me turning into the aisle, she was "checkin' me out." I told her that I honestly did not notice her doing so and again, thanked them both for their kind and encouraging words before heading to the next aisle. In all, I would estimate that I was in the presence of the woman for ~15-20 seconds before she made any compliment to me. Needless to say, it is encounters such as this that I truly enjoy and reinforce my confidence. The fact that I did not notice the woman looking at my outfit made me wonder if, after a certain point of routinely being out in heels, do we drop our guard and not even realize it? Do/can "we" become so confident that over time, we no longer notice who notices us? I suppose one could argue that it is a defence mechanism for any of us to focus on what we are doing when out and about in a pair of heels so that we do not notice others reaction to our presence, if they actually should have one. There have been may posts on this forum regarding whether or not others actually notice "US" when were are out and about while wearing heels. I would venture a guess that the consensus is that no, many others do not notice us when we are wearing our heels and if they do, they care little about such. So, I have to ask if we become like "them" and after a while, take no notice of those who notice us? I can certainly say that I have reached the point where when I am out in heels, I do not notice what anyone's reactions may be as doing what I need to get done is the focus. Thus, if someone should notice me, my reaction is..."And?" The wedges were supremely comfortable but as I had been in them for 12 hours when I finally got home, although my feet and calves were not screaming "uncle" they were tired. I think @Tech will be awarding me "Best Dressed of 2024" any day now!

I had a similar experience to Giege yesterday, while shopping at DSW shoe store. I was wearing a sweat shirt dress with a hemline above my knee, with winter white knee boots, when I encountered a woman maybe in her 40's who said that I looked great. I was also wearing leggings too. As always, I thanked her for the compliment. Upon check out, with two finds from the clearance rack, I told the cashier that I loved her mani, which was very appropriate for the Christmas season. Each one of her nails was done with a different Christmas decoration. I had to show her mine with the Christmas Tree on one pinkie and the candy cane on my other pinkie. She replied " I love them". Makes you feel great when you get those kind of compliments! Happy Heeling, bluejay

I had my monthly manicure today, I had 3 compliments in the first 2 hours afterwards. Now do I notice others noticing me? Yes; for example from this afternoon: I notice the woman at Costco whose eyes dove straight to my feet as we past each other (I have great peripheral vision). I may not notice every one, but I do see many double takes or stares when they occur in front of me. And for those that know me, I know many will look just to see what I am wearing that day.

I am sure there is somebody out there who takes that view, and maybe several somebodies. However, my personal philosophy compares wearing heels to practicing an instrument. When you are learning to play the piano, for example, you don't ever worry that someday you'll be too good at it, and it will be boring. The fact is, you will never get too good at it, and even though you might be world class, you still have to practice every day, or you lose that laser focused edge pretty quickly. I understand that dancing ballet is much the same way. You can't just take a week off without there being consequences. The goal is to make wearing heels look like it's very easy, even though oftentimes it is not. What I have mastered pretty well in the last 12 years is sheer endurance. What I have not mastered is super great form and making it look like it's no effort at all. Everybody has his own idea about what a good walk should look like, but I would find it doubtful that anybody gets a thrill out of struggling, unless it's a fetish thing, and that is really beyond the scope of this forum. To pursue the musical analogy further, I don't think I will ever find it thrilling to forget the lyrics to a song in front of hundreds of people, or lose the groove temporarily. Your thought is not without merit. What has happened over the last 12 years is that it takes a steeper heel to get that certain feeling. When I started, a 3 inch heel felt like a heel. Today, I typically don't even bother with anything that shallow. It takes at least a 3 1/2" difference between toe and heel before a shoe begins to feel like a heel, and 4" is about right. But, just like I will never be a concert pianist, you are quite correct that I will never master walking in the highest heels. Therefore, there will always be something to work toward.

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Yeah...I know I'm breaking the rules here, but this outfit was just "too cute" not to share....My leather skirt and 4.5" Jessica Simpson "Tulip" boots. Although I adore these boots and I bought them unworn, the interior lining is quickly deteriorating due to their age (maybe 10+ years?). I have already started planning out their replacement. Regardless, what a thrill it was to wear such high heels to work. Received several compliments in the ensemble as a whole!

Resurrecting another old topic here. Since it has often been very cold here, sometimes I give up on actually walking outside and practice walking in heels inside. You would think that after all these years, I would have a great sense of balance. It turns out that when put to the test, I do not. I struggle to walk slowly, and have trouble balancing on one foot casually. If I think about it in advance and am prepared for it, of course I can do it, but if I walk super slowly and suddenly decide to pause mid-stride, I'm absolutely terrible! Even the pose shown here is not accomplished without thought. Some days are better than others.

I'm resurrecting an ancient topic, but sometimes it takes a long time to have relevant experience, and this company, as far as I know, is still a going concern. I have exactly one pair of FSJ shoes, and my initial experience was bad. My blue mules failed on me literally within 200 meters. Both heel tips crumbled in rapid succession. For whatever reason, I did not give up on them and put hard rubber tips on them, as I do with all of my heels eventually. Here we are more than three years later, and I can honestly say that they are one of my "go to" summer shoes. I even brought them on my motorbike trip last summer (did not actually ride in them, however). They have held up very well.

I finally grabbed another church OOTW photo. It almost didn't happen because the sun was out--again. I have mentioned before that especially at this time of year, the angle of the sun makes it almost impossible to take a decent photo in my spot at noon. Yesterday there were some thin clouds, however, so I'll call this good enough. I had my Christmas red on yesterday, as it was the last Sunday in Advent. My Steve Madden Ronni pumps in red are finally getting some use, even though they're 1/2 size too big. With inserts, they're acceptable when worn barefoot. I almost step out of them, but not quite. Pants are Loft, shirt and tie from some Vietnamese shop in Hanoi.

This outfit seemed to call for boots.

Early morning outfit