Nothing like my trip for groceries. Only one pair. And it was actually a practical purchase!

Let me explain …

I’ve been seeing my doctor for about 10 years now. When I first picked her office, it was right across the street from our apartment. And then I moved (twice), and her office moved, and it’s a bit of a haul — 30 minutes from my office. But worth it once you find someone you’re comfortable with!

Anyway, right down the street from her office is a DSW. I have driven by this store countless times, and have never been inside. Really, it was a crime.

So when I saw a giant banner in the window containing both “$29.95” and “Blowout,” I knew today was the day. Yes I had to get back to work, but my deadlines are under control. I could just take a quick look!

Turns out it was a $29.95 and up Athletic Shoe Blowout — but that can be a good thing, too. I scanned the athletic shoes in the front of the store, and then took the escalator upstairs (!) to the women’s shoes.

Since I wanted to be quick, I just scanned the boots and headed towards the sale section. I’m really only on the lookout for a few things, and I was being VERY GOOD.

And then I came across a pair of Asics 2130s — the newer model of the running shoes I wore before switching to Nike. It’s probably a good idea to rotate shoes, though, and I didn’t really have a backup pair.

I wear a size larger in my running shoes, so I finished scanning my size and moved over a few rows. (Huge clearance section!) I ended up finding the trail version of the 2130s.

My friend has last year’s trail model, and I know from her experience they were a bit more stable than the standard, and hold up better to water. Perfect for winter!

They were 50% off their sale price; I paid $45 after tax. Best deal I’ve ever gotten on running shoes!

A few days ago, I placed an online order at Ann Taylor for these:

While I do already have a pair of tall high-heel boots, they’re a few years old and starting to show their age. Also, I’m guessing with the original price of $228, these would have been much nicer. These are dressier, too, so I would still wear both until the old ones wear out completely.

They were marked down substantially and I applied a coupon to bring the final cost to $66 after tax. Amazing deal, right?

Well, it was too good to be true. I just got an email today telling me there was an “incident” with my order. The boots were sold out before my order was fulfilled.

Boo! Isn’t online shopping inventory updated in real time? I’ve definitely had things sell out before I could place my order on a few occasions.

The note said my order was shipped without the boots. I really hope that was a mistake from a standard form-letter response, because that would mean there is an empty box in the mail for me. At least I got free shipping.

They didn’t even offer a discount when they were “apologizing for the inconvenience” of screwing up my order. This has happened once before at Piperlime.com (again with the shoes!), and they sent a coupon.

I always have coupons, but it still would have been the nice thing to do.

I have quite the order history with them!

* Well, there should be some ankle boots in the mail from a recent Ann Taylor LOFT order. That one has already shipped, and I received no “order incident” messages, so I’m assuming the boots are in the box.

Um, yeah. I have a problem.

This afternoon when I was running errands, I was proud of my restraint. I went to Old Navy to RETURN shoes. They were red heels that I loved, but just weren’t going to work.

I usually need a 6.5 at Old Navy, but this particular pair did not come in half sizes. I ordered the 6 and 7 online and hoped one would work. The smaller pair squished my toes, and I felt like I was playing dress-up in Mommy’s shoes with the larger.

So I went into Old Navy and returned the shoes, and didn’t look at anything else. Except some on-sale jewelry, but I didn’t find anything.

Next I headed to Ann Taylor LOFT to see if they had a jacket I ordered online in a different color. Online they didn’t have my size in yellow, so I ordered it in red. But I really wanted the yellow.

Of course I tried on a few things. I almost bought pants, but I didn’t love the way the pockets were laying. They weren’t cheap enough to deal with poor pocket placement. I did find the yellow jacket, though. I made the exchange and left without spending a dime. (Actually, I found a dime in the parking lot!)

I even looked in Rack Room, because they had $19 red boots in the window. They would have filled the void of the red heels … but they just seemed so cheap. Yes, they were cheap, but on sale from $39.99. They just weren’t worth it.

I also left behind $12 red shoes on the clearance rack because they weren’t really the style I was looking for.

After dinner, however, there was a little shopping spree. I headed to the grocery story to pick up a few things, but decided to stop in TJ Maxx first. Still looking for red shoes/boots. (Never mind the fact that I have two pairs of red shoes … dress heels and casual flats … I’m looking for a casual heel!)

I didn’t find red shoes, but I did find these:

Söfft Gemma

Dress heels that are comfortable? I will be replacing an extremely painful pair with these!

I also found these, which I may or may not keep:

Söfft Seryn

They feel great, and actually might be comfortable for chorale performances when I’m standing for a long time. I couldn’t decide between the two, but didn’t really want to buy both since they weren’t that cheap. But $34.99 is an excellent price for Söfft shoes!

After that (hadn’t hit the supermarket yet!) I decided I should check out Famous Footwear. They opened in the same shopping center months ago and I hadn’t been there yet.

I found these in the clearance section, buy one get one 1/2 off … so I just had to buy two pairs!

Etienne Aigner

me too

This is not all I’ve purchased recently. There have been quite a few additions to my shoe collection the past month or two. I think I’m going to cut myself off for a little while.

Really.

I can stop anytime I want!