mlroseplant

I get the fact that heels are not as popular as they once were, and a lot of that has to do with the fact that women aren't expected or required to wear heels anymore. This, coupled with the fact that everyone, and I mean everyone, even those who supposedly love and live in heels, sets people up with the caveat, "Well, you just have to push through the pain. It's the cost of beauty." Even the author of this article said that, despite her professed fondness for heels, her feet and ankles were messed up from years of wearing heels at the law firm. My first question is, "Why did you let this happen?" There is no need for any of that. We know this. Why doesn't anybody else know it?

I work with three guys who are at least semi-serious runners. I think all of them have done at least one marathon, and they do shorter long races on a regular basis. Get all three of them together, and the talk soon turns to this running shoe vs. that running shoe, what do you use for heart monitor/GPS, etc., etc. The reason I bring this up is because somehow they got talking about leg shaving one day. Evidently, some runners shave their legs. All three of them think it's ridiculous. One of the guys said, "C'mon, you're not a swimmer! You can't tell me that a little bit of hair is going to create that much drag at speeds we can run." Then they got into talking about how some guys will show up at a race with stubble on their legs, like they forgot to shave for a few days. I, not being a part of that conversation at all, quipped dryly, "Yeah, I hate it when that happens." They laughed, but had no idea why I thought that was a humorous thing to say. Don't get me wrong, even though this particular group of guys doesn't know me outside of work, I never got the impression that they were ridiculing a guy for shaving his legs. They were ridiculing any perceived performance gains, much like Shyheels feels about guys who remove decals off their bicycles. In order to tie this all back together, I'll repeat what I said before--It's perfectly acceptable for any guy to wear tall boots if there's some perceived practical reason for it. I think we got off into this leg shaving business because the attitude is pretty much the same. Of course, it's all ridiculous and subjective. Why do body builders shave pretty much their entire body, and that's just fine, but if I did it, I'd be really strange.

I had to take the day off work yesterday because my younger son had to have his wisdom teeth extracted, and I wanted to personally make sure he was ok after the procedure, having been through it myself, albeit nearly 40 years ago. Dentistry has come a long way in that time, but it is not always pain free. My son was a trooper, and did just fine. It will take a few days before he's back to doing his normal thing, though. I made the conscious decision to wear my normal clothes to the dentist office, which is not the same dentist I go to, so they've never had the pleasure of viewing my footwear up in the chair. I sat in the waiting room for over an hour, and I only got a bit of a sideways glance from an older couple during this time. I even saw my neighbor while I was in there, but he is already indoctrinated into the life of Melrose. I pulled out a pair of sandals I hadn't worn in a while, my BCBGeneration Poland. I've had these for quite a while, but I don't wear them often, and I'm not really sure why. Probably because I gravitate toward mules when I'm picking out something, and these obviously are not.

The weather has been brutal here as well, until yesterday, when it was less brutal. All this talk about "doing my part" has got me to thinking that I better check out my collection to make sure I don't need to replace or augment anything. I put quite a few miles on my black, block-heeled Vince Camuto knee-highs last year, and I was beginning to detect signs of possible failure. I can remember thinking that those boots were just for showing, not for walking. I really hope I'm wrong about that. I have run into the same phenomenon with shaving legs. It's perfectly acceptable IF you "have" to do it for some kind of sport, but otherwise. . . you a little weird.

It's kind of a curious thing, isn't it? Here in Middle America, it has become way more acceptable for men to wear a wider variety of colors, and pink has become a favorite on the construction site. Maybe it's the Breast Cancer Awareness campaign that did it, but nobody even bothers to mention anything anymore if a guy shows up in a pink shirt, even if it's not Friday. However, outside of equestrian circles, I do not see tall boots on men around here. With one exception: Latino laborers. Maybe not knee high, but they often wear their boots on the outsides of their pants. Plenty of men still wear cowboy boots around here, but always on the inside, and I doubt we've got any secret knee-high Luccheeses underneath there.

I went pretty casual (for me) to church yesterday. Part of the impetus for this was the fact that I thought I had overtaxed my right Achilles tendon last week, and I wanted to wear something a little bit lower, so as not to injure myself further. However, I have neglected these cute BCBGeneration wedges since I bought them, I think this is only the second time I've ever worn them, so it was about time anyhow. Despite the fact that we hadn't practiced nearly enough, Mickey and I were "on" yesterday. Sometimes, you get lucky and have those days.

He does seem to have sequentially year'd Hondas: '81, '82, '83, '84. Then a '72 Suzi, and then my two bikes, which are super contemporary by comparison: '06 Kawasaki, and my '09 Yamaha scooter. We'll get rid of the '81 Honda and the '06 Kawi, which won't screw with the sequential numbers.

I ran across this picture somewhere, and after doing a bit of research, found out it is the Korean pop star and actress IU. The caption on this translates, "Top 10 female talents." Also in the course of my brief research, I found many several pictures of the singer Rihanna walking on grating in stiletto heels. I have never personally tried it, but I have my doubts. Judging from some of the stills, I want to see video before I believe it's possible to step that accurately yet casually. Still, it makes a pretty cool picture. What do you think?

Hello all, I have been considering starting a "jaunts" type thread for some time, but I don't really "do" jaunts. In other words, I don't ever dress up for the sole purpose of going out dressed up. I just simply go about my everyday life wearing heels and usually close-fitting women's jeans. So, in light of that, I thought I would start a thread which will feature probably rather random thoughts about high heels and perhaps other traditionally women's fashion that I might like to incorporate into my wardrobe. I have decided to start this thread with an introduction, or re-introduction, rather than jumping right in with thoughts and insights into the world of a male who likes to wear high heels. My name is not actually Melrose Plant, that is a work nickname which has fallen into disuse over the years. However, it persists on the Internet, as I prefer it to my current work nickname, Squirrel. I am married and I have two sons, aged 6 and 16. The boys are fine with my choice of footwear, even the teenager. My wife tolerates it, but I am sure she wouldn't mind a bit if I decided one day to throw all my heels away. That ain't gonna happen. As I said, I plan to share random thoughts about wearing high heels and perhaps other traditionally women's clothing from time to time, and I hope it becomes an interesting thread. I welcome all comments and opinions.