A Shoe Story

Shoes.

For the silly shoe lovers out there like me…

I had been wanting these shoes for a while now. I would look at them in each season’s colors, add them to my cart, and then ultimately wait again. Do any of you do that? Well, at #rStheCon I finally decided to reward myself and get the shoes. I was so excited to wear them out that night for the all-white LIKEtoKNOW:it Finale Party as a pop of color to my white dress.

A blogger friend and I had dinner at Americano in The Joule (you must try their four mushroom pizza if you go) and of course we gushed about our purchases we made that afternoon. Then we hopped on the shuttle to the party at Dallas’s Winspear Opera House.

The patio around the opera house was glowing with lighting and people all in white were gathered around the LIKEtoKNOW:it photo booth and lounge areas throughout. Later, the DJ’s music changed slightly and we were asked to walk across the grass to a shallow pool of water in front of the DJ booth. Slight panic set in….

Finally I had these brand new shoes I had been drooling over for years and was so thrilled to purchase them for myself and was at this amazing party… But it had been raining that day and the ground still felt wet, not to mention there was a small pool of water in front of us. Here was that moment when you look stuffy if you don’t join in the fun, but a true shoe lover will probably spend the next day crying over her ruined shoes if she does trek across the wet/muddy grass. And as if I need to spell out my shoe addiction, I’m the girl who subsisted on clementines and cereal some weeks so I could spend the money I earned working on handbags and shoes. Priorities, I know.

I decided to say a quick prayer and walk across the grass. (My brilliant friend, unbeknownst to us, made a beeline for the DJ booth to save her suede heels!) We made it to the pool and I stood on the strip of cement surrounding the pool to protect my heels from sinking into the grass.

Then the stomp dancers came out. They were all decked out in white clothes and light-up shoes and I have to say, the minute they started dancing I got so into it I forgot all about my shoes. The DJ played the best mix of hip-hop songs and the dancers slid and spun through the shallow pool of water sending water cascading into the air, water droplets catching the glowing lights from around the patio. The way they moved made me want to kick off my heels and dance in the water with them, they were so talented. If you follow me on Snapchat and saw my snaps, you know!

As the dancers walked off the shallow pool, the water began to drain and a damp cement floor is all that remained. The entire party ran out to dance on the new, slightly wet dance floor. (I know what you’re thinking… This whole situation is like a death trap for suede shoes.) After all that incredible music and dancing, I had to go out to dance with everyone. I just barely lifted my feet so I wouldn’t kick up any water on them.

After we got back to the patio, we could see the water line about an inch up all the way around my shoes. My friends tried to be nice and encouraging, telling me it would probably disappear but I could see the slight horror in their eyes because they knew it wouldn’t… And being bloggers, they knew what the shoes were. So we danced (on the patio this time), took photos in the photo booth, noshed on the tiny tacos waitstaff were passing around, and enjoyed our last night with all these incredible people.

As we stepped off the shuttle back into the hotel, one of my friends grabbed my arm… “Look at your shoes!” she said, pointing down at them. I looked and lo and behold, they were perfect in all their bright orange goodness. I couldn’t believe it. And… Like only the most dedicated shoe lovers would do, about six of us stopped to stare in amazement. We decided to go somewhere to chat into the wee hours before our flights left the next morning.

Moral of the story… Don’t let ruined shoes stop you from having fun and living in the moment. And find friends who will cheer with your new shoes perform magic tricks.

If you’re in the mood for “treat yourself”… Check out Shopbop’s Surprise 3-Day Sale with prices up to 40% off.