mlroseplant

Hello from Kentucky! I finally got the chance to meet TBG in person after at least 7 years of online/phone communication. We played a lot of music together. My son proved that he can largely keep up with us, even at only 16 years old. Sorry to be a little cryptic, but I want to protect the man’s privacy. Those who know, know. I know many wonder what happened to him. 

In just 24 hours, my son and I will embark on a motorbike tour, kind of like we did last year, but more ambitious this time. We will be staying in Kentucky, West Virginia, and Indiana for our overnights. I have reluctantly decided to wear work boots on this trip, and I might bring along one pair of heels, I might not. Part of this decision is a practical one--it's simply easier to do everything in work boots rather than heels. The other part is social. I asked the guy in West Virginia about wearing heels in his neck of the woods, and while he didn't have a violent negative reaction to the idea, I decided right then and there that I was going to wear my work boots and not high heels. I mean, what would really be the point? It's not like I'm going to be doing a whole lot of walking on this trip. Anyway, I probably will not post anything until I get back at the end of next week. There will be nothing to post if I'm not wearing heels, innit?

Welcome back! I was idly wondering what happened to you. Sorry to hear about your injuries. I hope you have managed to recover. Although I haven't given up my HHP habit, I have spent less time on here in favor of pounding the pavement most mornings before work.

Update: My achilles tendon seems to be just fine for the first time in a decade. My big toe joint is much less painful than before, and even my hands feel pretty good lately. Of course, that may be because it's summer, and it's been a hot one. We'll see if this lasts another six months.

11 hours ago, Cali said:

Are you sure you was at a Home Depot?

My friends and I call it Home Despot. However, I can't say that I've had any bad experiences at Home Despot. I'd rather go to my locally owned lumber yard or hardware store, if I can. They don't mind my heels, either.

I'm pretty sure I could hang, even on cobblestones, but I wouldn't really want to be around that many people by choice.

Wow, over a year has gone by already! The black True Religion mules have 270 miles on them now, making them my most durable shoes ever. I actually had to have new soles put on them. The brown ones are an adequate substitute for the black comfort-wise, but for whatever reason I don't wear them much. I've barely worn the orange ones at all. They just rarely seem to be at the top of my "what to wear" mood.

It will be interesting to see what eventually makes the black pair fail. Number one reason for my high mileage shoes failing is a broken shank. These mules do not appear to have a shank, as I would guess the wood composite material they are made of is rigid enough to not need reinforcing. If I can keep from losing a sole or a heel without noticing it, I predict these sandals will wear out on the inside first. They are starting to show signs of that now. Even though it's embossed into the leather, you cannot read the brand name of the shoe on the footbed, or tell that it was ever there in the first place.

HA! I got a private message on social media after church today saying, "I didn't see you after church to beg for your approval on my improved shoe choice." Accompanying this was a photo of her feet in red sandals with wedge heels. Pretty cute overall! I feel a little bit funny about sharing it here, so I'll just share what I wore. I was kind of ambitious this week, with Michael Kors almost vintage sandals (circa 2012) with 5 1/2" heels, 1" platform.

15 hours ago, bluejay said:

I have no bad stories to tell about my wearing heels with my skorts. I get compliments from mostly women when i wear heels with short skorts. BTW, on the 4th of July i wore a flag decorated skort , white women's top and my double banded red sandals. Got compliments.

Today for church, I wore white dress pants, a red white and blue patriotic polo shirt with my Aerosoles red patent pumps with 3-1/2 " stacked heels. After church I wore my red double banded sandals with 3-1/2" stacked heels to show off my red pedi. got a couple compliments both in the supermarket and Walmart out shopping this morning. And of course I carried a red cross body bag, too!

Happy Heeling,

bluejay

The stories I seem to remember predate the skorts. And they involved Steve. How is Steve these days? Haven't heard from him in an age! Here is what I wore to church today. Ankle breakers, is what my friend called them.

I have tried to read Leviticus several times, and I just can't get through it. Somehow or other I always gloss through all that stuff and wind up at Joshua.

23 hours ago, Shyheels said:

That would not be much fun at all. One of the reasons I am hesitant about going out in stilettos is the fear of just such a thing happening. The heels look so precarious - so easy to imagine breakage and the aforementioned barefoot walk home. That's one of the drawbacks to being a creative - a vivid imagination. It's why I am not a great downhiller on my bicycle. I can envision all too easily the consequences of missing my line or a loose piece of gravel

In neither case of forced shoe removal was it a broken heel. I suppose my hypothetical sign should have said, "MY SHOE BROKE." I've only had two heels actually break in 13 years, and neither of them were stilettos. I've had stilettos come loose before, but that's easily fixed. Usually what happens is that the shank breaks, allowing the heel to go all wonky. But these you can sort of deal with without removing your shoes. You might look a little funny, but you can deal with it.

The reason I chose to remove my shoes in the two cases mentioned above is because if I didn't, it would have ruined the shoes. In one case, I lost a top lift (heel tip) on one of my sandals, and whatever wooden composite material the heels are made from does not resist abrasion very well. Once replaced (several times by now), those same sandals have lasted 268 miles and counting. I would have hated to lose that pair over a matter of pride. The other time I had to hoof it home shoeless was when the entire sole peeled off my pump, seemingly without warning. The only thing holding it on was the bit that's on the front part of the high heel. No amount of extreme high stepping would make this shoe wearable. Ripping the sole the rest of the way off seemed like a foolish option when the repair was so easy once I got home. The other sole had just started to come loose in the same way. I chose contact cement for the repair, and they seem to be doing just fine.

14 hours ago, pebblesf said:

Teenage girls are the worst, especially to one another!  Just the nature of their age and competitiveness.  My worst experience was going up an escalator at a mall with teenage girls behind me, they were all giggling.  "Never let em see you sweat".  Like MLP says, engaging young girls usually disarms them pretty quickly, making it obvious you are not intimidated.  For me, one geniune compliment usually cancels ten unpleasant encounters.  I have reached the age where I don't care much about what others think, I like the way I look in boots, even if I am older.  That being said, I do enjoy and appreciate compliments, it is nice to have my choices in boots validated.  

The only other lousy situation I had was when the heel gave out on my Zodiac boots!  I had to walk back to the hotel dragging one foot to keep the heel/sole from flopping around!  

I've had it happen to me twice where I basically didn't have any choice but to walk home barefoot. It's funny you should mention being more mature and not caring what others think, but carrying a pair of heels while walking barefoot adds a whole new layer of self-consciousness for some reason. I felt like I wanted to hang a big flashing sign around my neck that said, "MY HEEL BROKE."

Hello and welcome. I do not believe you have been unfairly treated. If memory serves, nobody is allowed to post pictures until they have been a member for a while and made a number of posts.

I haven't seen shoes like that in years. I didn't find them particularly attractive in the 1990s, but I was rather impressed that girls wore them literally everywhere. Even to work in the grocery store, or for an entire shift as a waitress. Of course now, it doesn't seem nearly that impressive, but at the time.  .  .

Yeah, that's the thing, we're not pretenders here. When we wear heels, we actually wear heels. I cannot and will not claim to wear 12 cm "all the time," because that would be a lie. However, I do feel comfortable in 10 cm (4 inch) pretty much indefinitely. I haven't had the opportunity for a heeling marathon for quite a while, but I'm pretty confident in that assertion.

@bluejay, I seem to recall some stories about how you have been harassed about your fashion choices in the past. Perhaps recounting one of those would be helpful in this situation. I don't think you're the type of person to put up with it much.

I too have been harassed by teenagers, though not for a long time. What I find it that when you engage them in a friendly way, they tend to melt pretty quickly. It's also nice to know that people actually pay attention to outfits you have gone to a great deal of trouble to create.

Let me get this straight: Heels "help you stride through the world," but at the same time "the risk of falling is not far away." And 12 cm? Never actually seen them in real life (I mean, besides me). Even on social media, there are precious few who can actually walk well in them. Many try, few succeed. At the moment, I include myself in the many. I hate to beat up on the new guy, but I going to--most of the above post, while admittedly rather charming, is nonsense.

In my personal experience, there are very few women who wear (or used to wear) heels as a way to attract attention. Not zero, but approaching zero. I personally wear them because I like them, nothing more, nothing less. I can remember a conversation I had with a young college boy, who was with his girlfriend at the time. The kid stopped me on the street and earnestly asked about my footwear. He wasn't being mean, I believe he was genuinely curious. At one point he asked me, "Do you wear heels to get attention?" I replied, perhaps somewhat rudely, "No. Actually, I rather wish people would leave me the hell alone." Even then, he didn't get the hint. I have no idea what the girl was thinking, she didn't say a word the whole time. If I wanted attention, I don't think I'd want it from a socially awkward kid.

5 hours ago, Tech said:

Something I'd really like to change if possible...

I wouldn't mind that either, but I'm trying to figure out how that might happen, given the current state of things. Just glancing at the last few subjects in the "Guys" and "Everybody" topics, what are the main subjects? "I am afraid to wear heels in public," "I gained the courage to wear heels in public," "I gained more courage to wear these outrageous heels in public," "I actually got compliments on my shoes and outfit by the general public."

There is definitely some amount of material that women might be interested in, but it seems that largely we just talk about being accepted, and there is nothing wrong with that. How can we make ourselves more attractive to women? HA! Story of my life.

I understand your pain, but alas, I cannot feel your pain, being a reliable UK 7, sometimes even a 6.5. I haven't looked into trainers for quite a while, but last time I looked, they were pretty much huge and ugly, even the women's.

I can't disagree with you about anything you've said--well, except for the part about wearing flats. Who would ever want to do that? Nevertheless, I hope you do realize that nearly 100% of your audience on this site is male.

22 hours ago, pebblesf said:

I find that much of my "timidness" in my various stiletto booties/boots is caused by being concerned about wrecking the heels prematurely while out and about.  I have spoiled a few heels on my favorite pairs which was very upsetting.  So, I think I tend to "walk gently" in my boots, without even thinking about it, in an attempt to avoid ruining them.  I'm thinking this works against progress in the long run though.  

On a positive note, was wearing my 3.5" block heeled ankle boots in Home Depot yesterday, these boots are great for everyday chores, shopping, etc.  Super easy to walk in, without the worry of damaging stiletto heels.  Was trying to navigate the damn self check out, god forbid you try to pay with cash!  A very nice younger attendant came by to help then complimented my boots.  I spent a minute or so chatting with him and thanking him for taking the time to compliment me.  

I have definitely eased up on my shoes over the years as far as the wear. I don't necessarily break fewer shoes than I did before, but the heel tips do not wear out nearly as fast as they used to. It's not that I walk timidly, I just walk more gently, as you suggest. Specifically, I don't do a hard heel strike anymore, and a lot of that has to do with ankle flexibility that I've developed over the last decade. Nevertheless, I basically have only one pair of stilettos that I wear for occasional walking, and I have posted a picture here. They actually measure 120 mm high, but are the most walkable shoes I have at that height. I use them as practice shoes to help me walk better in my higher shoes. I also wore them to church last week in deference to Pride Month. Unfortunately, the sanctuary was decorated weirdly for vacation bible school, and nobody could see my feet. Anyhow, I got 9 miles out of the stock heel tips, and over 16 out of the replacements. I'm on 30 miles total for those shoes. To put that in perspective, that's twice the mileage I used to get out of stiletto heel tips, and I don't think the quality of the product has changed significantly in the last 10 years. My non-stiletto heel caps have experienced the same relative increase in service life.

I like the self checkout at the grocery store (because I can bag my groceries my way in my own cloth bags), but I hate self checkout anyplace else. Actually, if they'd do like they do in most of Minnesota, and have a regular checkout but self-bag, I'd prefer that.

On edit: It occurred to me that in small file size, it may not be obvious that my mules, though predominately black, are rainbow colored.

Cali and I agree very strongly that there isn't a reason to wear heels that don't feel good. Having said that, I have two different types of shoes in my collection these days. I have my walking shoes, and I have my church shoes. The walking shoes basically have no time limit. The church shoes, depending on several factors, might only be good for several hours, especially the 12 cm variety. But none of them actually hurt my feet.

Thanks for the shout-out! I also find that height to be challenging, so your story and experience has inspired me to get my act together, so to speak. In a perfect world, I would wear 12 cm stilettos everywhere, but as we are well aware, it is not a perfect world.

As a final followup to this thread, I have now worn the Elisabet Tang/GenShuo pumps out in public, and I can say that they're pretty decent for the money. I don't know if you pulled the trigger on that lot of them a month or so ago, but I think they would be well worth the money, provided that they actually fit. Both pairs I got had to spend some considerable time on the shoe stretcher. One thing that impresses me is that despite being fairly aggressive with the enbiggening device, nothing came loose, nothing broke, and the material didn't pucker permanently, as is often the case. They look and walk better than they have any right to at that price point.