mlroseplant

On 12/28/2016 at 9:58 PM, CAT said:

Nope not at all.  Very rarely do I get a no.  Probably only 2-3 times.  Asking the girls to take the pic always leads in to small talk or conversation about my clothes or heels.  Some as you have seen even take pics with me.  

On 12/29/2016 at 1:05 AM, MackyHeels said:

Bet your all smiles. Doubt i could pull it off without sounding creepy or having ulterior motive. Maybe i'm too serious or assuming woman natural reactions of shivers and awkwardness maybe bitterness that i maybe enjoying wearing heels and accessories  to much. Which creeps females away.

I have come to accept that some guys just have the confidence and charisma to pull this sort of thing off. I am not such a guy, and that's ok. I have other areas in which I excel. Oh, I can just hear myself saying, without meaning to, "Hey, I know I seem creepy, but I'm really not!" Which would explain why I don't have a lot of pictures of myself out in the real world, haha.

Thanks fellas, for the compliments. It may be hard to tell in this picture, but I have grown a beard for the first time in a number of years.

I do feel comfortable with this look, but I feel rather stuck with it. A Johnny-One-Note, so to speak. 

Just to prove I was actually in a movie theater last night (I go to such establishments annually at most), I had to take a hurried selfie. This is pretty much my winter uniform: Black trench coat, jeans, and some type of black boot. Pretty boring, eh?

On 12/12/2016 at 9:23 AM, Thighbootguy said:

I suspect it was the 5" platform pumps which would look nice with the black pants.

I remember back when I used to be a regular at the skating rink (has my own skates).  Back then I used to bounce if/when I fell.  Now I'd shatter into a thousand pieces.   I do remember one time trying to rent a pair of white high topped white girl's skates (the guy's skates were black) but they didn't have a pair in my size.  I think that was probably my first attempt at acquiring women's shoes.

Take it easy and I hope you still bounce.

I fell twice: Once in the seating area, and once on the rink when I was trying to figure out how to skate backwards. It's really quite a different technique than ice skating, which I have done much more recently and regularly. I still bounce pretty good for a middle aged man. Weighing less than 10 stone helps matters.

13 hours ago, SF said:

Mlroseplant.....   Uhhhh, leme try - the high heels???  Nice looking shoes, but way to high for me.  Cool that you can wear them....  Take care, Merry Christmas to you and your family.....   sf

Yes, mine are the high platform loafers. It actually took me a couple years to get used to them, but I loved them so much I refused to give up on them easily. Even still, since I've been slacking off on the walking (you may recall my 1,000 miles in high heels thread), by the end of the day, my feet were feeling it.

I went to a child's birthday party at a roller skating rink this afternoon. It's been a few years, and the rental skates didn't run quite straight. Still, a good time was had by all. 3 people, including me, wore heels to the party. Can you guess which ones are mine?

Hmmmmm.  .  . This looks like something I may need to try out. I tend to wear rather close fitting t-shirts in the summer, but my bunching problem occurs at the back, which I suppose happens to everybody once you've sat down and stood back up a few times, or bent over to pick up something off the floor. However, I wonder if this is also one of those items which only looks great if you are rail thin.

21 hours ago, Thighbootguy said:

Thank you for the video, but you left out the best part, the applause at the end.   Nice playing down the neck as things get a little touchy down there. That appears to be a serious cello with a micro tuner only on the "A" string (mine is a student clunker with micro tuners on each string).  There has been a lot of discussion about a guy's wearing heels freeing up the creative side of the person.  I sure looks like it works for you.  Well done.

You also no doubt noticed that in addition to the video ending suddenly and abruptly, the first couple of seconds were cut off as well. This is the way my wife takes every video. I have given up requesting that we get a little bit of extra on either end. When my 7 year old gets to the point where he can hold the camera perfectly still for several minutes, this problem will be solved.

Very observant about the fine tuners. It doesn't have so much to do with the quality of the instrument as what type of strings one chooses. I have used gut strings (aluminum wound) for years, but with a steel core A, for some added brightness up top. With gut strings, fine tuners are pretty useless, as you have to physically turn the tuning pegs a lot farther to change the pitch compared to a synthetic core string.

As to heels affecting creativity, I have no opinion about that. I've only been wearing heels for about four years, and I know I used to be a better player in many ways than what I am now!

Not only can't you rush Art, evidently you can't rush Jeff, either.

On 12/4/2016 at 8:07 AM, Thighbootguy said:

With the newly repaired Michael Kors sandals (which look great) I'm expecting to hear a bit of Mellow Cello.

Here ya go! Don't know that I'd call it "mellow," so much as "slightly agitated." To keep relevance to the thread, I believe I was wearing my Steve Madden "Barbb" sandals during this worship. 

9 hours ago, HappyinHeels said:

mlroseplant,

Since you're an electrician by trade and can master that perhaps you could take on another electrifying trade like learning how to resole shoes, install new tips, etc. Some years ago I bought a shoe stretcher and some shoe dye and have stretched many shoes successfully for a better fit as well as bought two of a particular type of wedge sandal or pump and dyed them a different color. The majority of shoe cobblers in the USA are of advanced age and another generation needs to learn the craft. You'll have the satisfaction of learning something new and perhaps last frustration waiting on someone else's schedule.

Eventually I am going to make a pair of exotic heels for myself. I am talking about something with a heel of at least 9"/22.5cm with the last made from probably basswood. I have a number of basswood trees (large-leaf lindens) on our 40 acres in far northern WIsconsin and this wood is lightweight and very easy to work. I can use the top from another shoe I hardly use and adapt it to the shoe last I create. That's the plan.

Give it some thought. HappyinHeels

That sounds like a wonderful idea, except for the fact that I have zero interest. Plus, I am just not artistically talented in that way. I can bolt stuff together just fine, but that sort of finery holds no thrill with me. If I ever get a reduction in hours, I plan on spending more time on my sound art.

Speaking of cobbling, I just got my Michael Kors sandals back from the cobbler, the ones which were a week late because evidently the note attached to them didn't do anything more to get their attention than the scrawled work order. They turned out OK. At least the feel and the structure of the shoes seems to be unaltered. The true color of these is a dark bronze, it's a barely-detectable metallic color, and it's way more wearable color than I thought it would be, as it seems to go with just about everything.

I have an identical pair in black, which have exactly the same issues as the bronze pair: Broken strap, super thin leather soles worn out, heels well on their way to the end of their service life. I figure I'll take the black pair to this place called El Zapatito for the exact same repairs, and then I'll get to compare and contrast. How scientific is that?

I would have worn both pair a lot more last summer if they had been available. I look forward to next summer!

On 11/29/2016 at 5:16 AM, HHinH20 said:

Hi all, I just wondered if anyone out there likes buying shoes for other people?.

 

 

I did that once. In retrospect, it was probably a bad idea. I doubt I'll do it again. But that involves wives more than heels.

I'm afraid I have to be the voice of dissent, and say I think SF looked just fine before. I just do not share y'all's love and fascination with nail polish. It's the one area of fashion on which my wife and I actually agree! I don't think I've ever seen my wife use nail polish, at least not on her fingers.

I think I'm going to give another cobbler a try. After reading my "1,000 Miles" thread, I'm sure you know that I have a LOT of shoe repair done. After all, I'm walking a great deal in shoes that were not really designed to be walked in. It requires some maintenance.

I've been using the same cobbler for several years, and they do good work, but I have a couple of complaints. Number one, I don't see why it takes a week, or sometimes a week and a half, to replace heel tips (or top lifts, as they are known in the biz). Being as the shop is super busy all the time, I can sort of understand, but come on! Secondly, if I bring in more than one pair at a time, and they don't need identical repairs, it has happened that stuff doesn't get done the first time. I had a great idea to solve this problem, I wrote little note cards which I attached to each pair of shoes with a small, zip-type wire tie, detailing what needed to be done.

Can you believe it STILL did not solve the problem? I went to pick up my shoes yesterday, and one pair was beautifully re-heeled, cleaned up, and polished. The other pair? Re-heeled, check. Broken strap repaired, check. Obviously worn out leather soles still intact! With the card still attached to the shoe, saying, new heels, new rubber half soles, repair broken strap. They were apologetic, but how is this even possible?

There's a new cobbler shop on the south side that is run by a Mexican guy. Not too many reviews yet, but they are all glowing. I think I'm going to give him a try real soon.

4 hours ago, heelsrus2000 said:

I thought the thread was about tucking the jeggings into boots... 

HA! SURPRISE!

I think we're doing a pretty good job so far of keeping this a reasonably clean, "how do I achieve this type of look" discussion. The LAST time we had this discussion, it kind of devolved. Let's keep our fashionable aspirations!

Ah, the old "to tuck or not to tuck" debate. I'm with you on this one--I don't like the bulge. Not that I am unhappy with my own plumbing and gender, I just don't like the way it looks with such slim clothing. My solution is to not wear the things that show too much of me, or to simply cover it up with a long shirt or sweater. Other, more radical, solutions I find to be too uncomfortable.

On the other hand, there are those who enjoy showing off, perhaps in the same way that a woman might enjoy showing cleavage up top, but it's not for me.

On 11/22/2016 at 8:40 PM, HappyinHeels said:

mlroseplant,

Interesting thread. I am curious if most of these miles were recorded on city or town streets you drove to. Would you record steps taken say, in a large mall? I would think that would be fair enough as well. An equally useful measure may be to record all the different activities you have done while wearing heels and the elapsed time of wear which may be included in the pedometre device. While I don't know how many miles/kilometres I have walked in heels I do know I have driven rental vehicles and my own vehicles, gone our to eat, gone to get a pedicure (Steve63130's favorite salon in Ohio), gone to the movies, did household chores, gone shopping in different cities, worked on woodworking projects, cooked and had sex all while wearing heels all things which women do. This may  prove to be a practical tool as well. One thing is fr sure, walking in heels definitely does something to build calf muscles.

Try and replace your home's electrical service in a pair of wild wedges next time. It'll put some special spark into that next project

HappyinHeels

I had no idea there would be this much interest in this thread. Since there is, I will explain a little bit more about what I have typically done to achieve the 1,000 miles, how I've catalogued it, and what I have discovered about myself and about my shoes over the past 3 years.

I walked the bulk of the 1,000 miles in the area around my house, which is in a small town in the Midwest U.S. Typically, I take these walks in the evening after dinner, 1-3 miles at a time, recorded by a GPS application I have on my phone. There are three places I go regularly where I do not switch on the application, because the mileage is a known quantity already. The walk to church is 0.6 miles (one way), the walk to the nearest grocery store is 0.5 miles, and orchestra rehearsal at the college is 0.4 miles (carrying a cello in heels really sucks by the way, but I've actually kind of gotten used to it).

Pretty much, that's it, that's all I record. I don't count the mall, I don't count Costco or any such large shopping establishment. I don't count the miles and miles I must have walked inside the church over the years. When we visited the Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha, I did give myself 2 miles credit, and I figure that was a super conservative estimate.

After each of these walks or events, I then record (by hand, oddly enough) the mileage, the date, and what shoes I was wearing. I also record what repairs may have been made to the shoes, such as new soles and heels. More about that later. I also mentally note each time, but do not record, the speed at which I walked on any given outing. Obviously, this is only useful where I have walked somewhere all in one shot with no stops for shopping or whatever. What I have discovered is that I have "fast" shoes, and I have "slow" shoes.

In sports shoes or in bare feet, I typically walk one mile in 16:30 to 17:00 minutes. I know it's not super fast, but I have found I simply do not enjoy walking any faster than that at all. If I need to go faster, I'd rather just run. I have really short legs, you know. In high heels, my mentally calculated average is about 20 minute miles, or 3 miles per hour. In my "fast" heels, 18 minute miles are no problem at all, and in my "slow" shoes, 22 minute miles can be a struggle. There is somewhat of a correlation between the height of the heels and how fast I can comfortably walk in them, but it is certainly not the only factor. For example, my go-to winter boots, which have 5.25" heels, are definitely "fast" shoes, even though they're in the top 25 percentile of being my highest shoes. Another exception to the correlation is the time I did a blistering 18:30 per mile in some super flappy 4.75" mules, which you'd think would be super slow shoes, but for some reason these fit tightly on my feet in just the right places and they never feel like they're going to fall off. At that fast speed, hearing protection is recommended to muffle the slapping sounds. It is much better to walk more slowly in those particular mules, it was just an experiment.

As I mentioned before, I keep track of when repairs are made to all my shoes, so I have gotten a sense of what lasts, and what doesn't. As we all know, in general, the stock heel tips, or top lifts, as cobblers call them, do not tend to last very long. With stilettos, I find I am at the cobbler shop within just a few miles of walking. Sometimes even broader heels wear out surprisingly fast. One exception is my Sofft Belicia sandals. The stock top lift is still good, though slightly worn, after over 100 miles of walking on concrete. I have half a mind to keep walking in them just to see how long it takes to wear the heels out, but unfortunately, the rest of the sandals are worn to the point where I like neither how they look nor how they feel any more. One thing that will not be surprising to most of you is that stiletto heels wear out a lot faster than broader heels. It is for this reason that I severely limit my purposeful walks in stilettos, saving them for occasions where I won't be doing a lot of walking on concrete. For the perfect balance of durability vs. looks, I have settled on heels which are about 3/4" x 3/4" (2mm x 2mm). These last many times longer than your typical stiletto at 3/8" x 3/8" (1mm x 1mm). In general, I can easily get 40-50 miles or more out of the slightly broader heels on concrete, whereas I am lucky to get 10 out of stilettos. Concrete is hell on stiletto top lifts.

What I have discovered over the last 3 years is that I've gotten a hell of a lot better at walking in heels. No surprise there. As I have gotten better, I have tended to buy and wear higher and higher heels. Whereas my original collection from 3 years ago contained a lot of shoes in the 3.5 inch range, my present collection contains relatively few which are lower than 4.5 inches. I have also discovered my limitations. My favorite, most comfortable heel height is about a 4 inch difference in steepness between front and back. Typically for me, this means a 5 inch heel with a 1 inch platform. This is on a size 9 shoe. Some of you guys up in the size 13+ range can wear 4 inch heels, and it looks like a kitten heel to me, LOL. If I go much more than a 4.5" difference in elevation, I can't really walk properly. If I made it my goal, yes, I could probably learn to walk in 5" heels, no platform, but it would require a lot of effort on my part, and I'm not willing to put that kind of energy into it at this point.

So that is the long version of what I might have posted originally, but I didn't want to bore you to death. I hope this answers some of your questions and more, and that you are still awake as you read this last sentence.

9 hours ago, Steve63130 said:

gj, good advice. I often change footwear 2 or 3 times a day, just for variation. I'm quite comfortable in anything from flats to 3.5 inches.

Steve

It may well be good advice, but I took away something completely different:

On 11/18/2016 at 11:45 AM, Micce said:

I was wondering if other forum members have had similar feelings.  .  . to my mild amuzement I realized I felt strange going out with such low footwear. Not properly dressed, sort of half naked with low heels. Or like going without tie to a formal party.

 

Thus far, all of the replies have been about calf muscles cramping or Achilles tendons shortening, something along those lines. I don't believe Micce was talking about such physical ailments at all, but rather the feeling you get inside your head when you wear high heels versus low heels. I notice a very distinct sense of well-being when I am wearing heels which is absent when I am not. I believe that Micce was asking if others also experience this, or its opposite, a feeling of slight dismay when not wearing heels.

5 hours ago, Sydheel said:

Well Its update time

MRI came back with ACL intact. Lots of minor damage compared to what we feared. A cracked bone, a tear in cartlidge lots of things strained and stretched  but by doing that the knee was saved. 

My doc said its a 1% chance and good cycling muscles saved it

I would prefer to think it was the heeling that saved it. I'd go with that.

Thank you for sharing your good news!

Wow, talk about lazy! Since passing the milestone, I've managed only an additional 0.8 miles. I refuse to feel guilty about it!

2 hours ago, JeffB said:

 

As always, comments and suggestions on how I can improve my look are welcome. I'll see about finding a women's blazer, something that's been a bit of a sticking point with me because of my long arms, but I'll keep on trying.

It's just too darn bad that we don't live closer together, as my good friend and fellow shoe addict is a tailor. Given her support of my fashion choices, I bet she'd be able to whip up exactly what you're looking for.

Yes, yes! I know exactly what you mean, and it has nothing to do with the physical. I am perfectly capable of wearing flats or going barefoot all day long physically, but on the rare occasions that I choose to wear flats outside of work, I always regret it. It just doesn't feel right at all.

6 hours ago, Shyheels said:

Between your exercises and stretching, and the strengthening effect for calves and ankles of walking a thousand miles in heels, you probably have worked out a great fitness regime. I have a cycling challenge I have set myself, one involving a scary amount of hill climbing and mountain passes. I could probably do worse than incorporate the mlroseplant regime in my training!       

I did indeed used to have quite a fitness regimen. I've never lived a sedentary lifestyle, but several years ago, I had gotten to the point where I wasn't happy with how I looked or felt. I started an informal program slowly on indoor stationary equipment, and worked my way up to where I was quite excited to give a triathlon a try the following spring. I was in fighting trim, at the same weight I was in college, only stronger.

And then.  .  . this job I'm working happened. Although it continues to be a wonderful opportunity to gain more financial independence (and a way to buy more and better shoes), it is just exhausting, especially after doing it for coming up on 3 years. So plans for the triathlon went out the window, and now I'm lucky if I can drag myself out at night to walk a mile or two around the neighborhood (in heels, of course).

So yes, you're half-right. My legs and ankles don't look bad at all, but my belly has grown somewhat.

Thank you all for your interest. It has been a long road, literally!

12 hours ago, Shyheels said:

Wow! That's pretty impressive! And well recorded too. Congratulations. Am I right in guessing that would have made your ankles and calves pretty fit?

It has indeed, and I have really noticed in the past week how taking some time off from heels due to an injury of sorts has negatively affected my stamina in heels. I also do a lot of exercises and stretches to accentuate the good parts of heeling, such as stronger calves and ankles, and minimize the bad parts, such as tight leg muscles and restricted range of motion.

8 hours ago, SF said:

Mr. Mlroseplant,  That is a nice accomplishment.  So what now?  Are you going to "retire" or keep heeling???  We do need more guys out in heels.  I imagine that you will continue to be a "dedicated heeling soldier" and keep up the cause??  Take care, and again congrats.....   sf

It is not a question of whether I will continue heeling (of course I will), but rather whether I will continue to take walks for the purpose of recording the mileage. I am not sure that I want to create a 2,000 mile goal. Probably, I will continue recording. If nothing else, it is interesting to find out which shoe repair materials turn out to be the most durable. Yes, I record that also.

Ohhhhh. That is a bummer. I hope the healing process is a speedy one.