I bought shoes!

I know, I know. Just pretend to be surprised, ok? For me?

I had lunch today down in the Union Square area, and since we couldn't get a reservation until 1:30, I headed down a little early and hit DSW. I didn't even know that were having a special clearance, but I was very happily surprised. I had less than 20 minutes, I think, to get in, find silver shoes, buy them, and get out again and meet my lunch date. So how'd I do?

I bought two pair!! (Not that I can find any pictures of them online, of course.)

The first pair was a peep-toe t-strap that buckled at the ankle. The t-strap was all pretty and rhinestone-y, and someone remarked that it looked like a dance shoe -- which I took as a good thing, since I plan on doing a lot of dancing in it!

The second pair (both were from Nina, by the way) was on the clearance rack, open toed sandals with a strap that crossed over from the outside of my foot to the inner ankle, then became a slingback strap. Very fancy.

I didn't have a lot of time, as I mentioned, so I bought both, went to my lunch with a fun editor (sent back my burger for being too rare, which I hate doing, but it was red!), and came back to the office for a fashion show. See, I need other people's opinions. I like to hear what other people have to say, and having taken in all their thoughts, will then make my final call.

So I walked around the office, wearing one shoe of each pair, and polled about 8 women. Off the bat, most preferred the fancier shoe with the slingback. But when I described what it was for, and when I would be wearing it, most said the t-strap was better. So, the t-strap it is!! I'll be trying it on with the dress tonight to make sure I like the look with the hem, but then I can go and get my super-bra, and take the dress to be altered for the wedding.

And speaking of weddings, I was reading Weddingbee, as I'm wont to do, and read this in one bride's post describing her dress-shopping adventures:

Well, with this dress I learned the lesson that 95% (my rough estimation) of brides realize upon dress shopping – what you initially think you want is probably not what you end up liking/buying.

And what struck me about that was that I'm apparently in the 5% group. Sure, when I was a kid dreaming of dresses, I had a different idea of what I wanted, but when I actually WENT dress shopping, the dress we walked out of the store with was almost exactly what I described to the saleswoman.

I'm not saying I'm super-amazing or anything, but part of my weight loss journey, I think, has been recognizing the looks that work for me, and sticking with them. And as that makes four labels I can throw on this post, I'll leave it at that. To thine own self be true -- but before you can do that, make sure you know who you are!